King of all Kings
by Forest of Lilies
Summary: Of all things, Solomon never expected to come back. And now he was stuck fighting Al-Thamen and old friends. Yet, everything around him kept reminding him of the past. But he had to keep moving forward. This was his world and he wouldn't let it end, not without a fight.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome^^ I hope you are going to enjoy this story!**

 **Solomon looks like he did when fighting against David.**

 **I do not own Magi.**

 **King of all Kings:**

He felt light as he awoke on what felt like stone. He opened his eyes as he sat up, looking around the spacious room he was in. Books were everywhere he could see. It kind of reminded him of Ugo, he always had a lot of books. When he noticed that it suddenly got darker and looked up, he saw a giant staring down at him with a gently smile.

 _'Ah, Ugo...'_ He gave a slight smile as well but dropped it when he grasped where he was "How am I here?" He looked around anew. Still a wide room filled with books.

"You are in the Sacred Palace, my King." Ugo informed him as he knelt down to get closer to Solomon's level "After the last battle your rukh didn't leave but instead stayed in place, so I took the liberty of trapping it with my magic. It didn't seem to disturb the flow so to me it didn't appear to be a bad thing to do."

"..." Solomon looked up at his friend "Then how come I am here but also at the flow? It's like I'm at two places at once but at the same time not. I feel much more… _here_ at the moment. Like the flow is something real yet in my head." He stared at his hands, closing them to make sure he really was there.

Ugo smiled apologetic "I'm afraid I do not know the answer, my King."

"It's fine." He replied. Solomon then remembered something important "How is the… new world?"

He had no idea what exactly to call it. He knew a new world was created but he wanted to hear what his friend thought about it. Hearing what Ugo had to say was bound to be interesting. His ideas and theories were brilliant even if the people in the Orthodox Church never agreed.

* * *

Solomon was reading a book when he began wondering what exactly the world looked like and how being in it would feel like. He had been in the Sacred Palace alongside Ugo for a long time now. He immediately went to Ugo who in the course of their conversation told him about his option of a wish.

"A wish?" He repeated slowly. _'Why would I of all people deserve one? I created this world, why would I wish for something_ in _it?'_

Uraltugo nodded in confirmation "You can wish for anything you want my venerable King. Your wish is my command. Now then, what do you wish for?"

Solomon smiled at his friend "Shouldn't that be obvious?"

"Please keep being my friend, no matter what."

* * *

Alibaba went to load more watermelons into Budel's wagon when he noticed a young man sitting on one of the nearby rooftops, watching him. They stared at each other for a bit before the man's gaze went a bit up and Alibaba heard the voice of his… boss.

Solomon watched in silence as the rather obese man shouted at the blond teen for being too slow. He would have gone down there and commented on the man but he had a feeling that would be considered rather rude and might land the blond in more trouble. He did think before acting after all. When the man was out of sight he jumped down.

Alibaba watched him as he neared. Solomon couldn't blame him, he _had_ been oberserving the blond the entire time, everyone with half a brain would be wary.

"A good day." Solomon greeted "Do you need help?" He motioned to the wagon with a slight tilt of his head.

"Ah- no." Alibaba replied slightly startled "It's quite alright, Sir... uhm…"

It took Solomon a moment to realize that the boy was wondering about his name. But what could he say _'I'm Solomon'_? It would be bad if anyone could recognize the name and put two and two together.

But what name could he use instead. He didn't know that many names. Just what name would be okay. What would be acceptable. What would be-

"I'm Aladdin."

 _'Fuck!'_

Solomon cursed himself in his head, lips twitching slightly as they were trying to form a grimace. He was starting to panic and blurted out whatever came to mind first.

 _'Just great.'_ If he were to suddenly correct himself on his name, he would only seem more suspicious than he did before _'Good job me, now I'm stuck being called by my son's name. I_ definitely _needed a reminder for_ that _.'_

The youth smiled at him and stretched out his hand "Nice to meet you, Aladdin. I'm Alibaba."

"Same here." Solomon smiled as he took his hand while still cursing himself for the slip-up. He released the hand after shaking it "Why do you work for someone like that? He didn't seem very pleasant to me."

"It will help me achieve my goal, so I'm gonna do my best."

"Goal? But wouldn't it still be better to have a more pleasant employer?"

"It works for now." Alibaba told him as they walked away from the wagons "But that's just the start. I'm going to conquer a dungeon. First, I will take on the one in this city, Amon, then the other Dungeons left in the world… And then I will become the richest man in the entire world!"

 _'Richest, huh?'_ Solomon looked at the sky _'That's some ambition but still... why money? Humans have become greedy. Come to think of it, it would be nice to see one of the others again.'_

"Why do need so much? Isn't that rather greedy?" He stated bluntly.

Alibaba looked a bit abashed at that "I need money. Enough to be able to buy a country."

 _'A country? Let me see… Alibaba... Alibaba Saluja, yeah, that would make sense. But I don't think it will be that easy to help his country.'_

"As long as you have money, you can have anything you want." Alibaba continued confident.

Solomon resisted the urge to sigh, money can get you a lot, but by far not everything. This teen still had a lot to learn. He was so absorbed in the conversation and his thoughts that he didn't notice the girl in front of him. When he did, they had already crashed against each other.

The lemons she was balancing with a basket tumbled down and before Solomon could even crouch down to help, she had already picked them all up and put them back into the basket.

"I'm sorry Miss, I wasn't paying attention. Are you okay?" It wouldn't be good if he got into trouble so soon but then again, it was bound to happen. Still, better later than sooner.

"I'm fine." Morgiana replied briefly and passed them.

Solomon heard a quiet clinking sound and looked at the girls feet, Alibaba followed his gaze. The girl noticed them and attempted to cover the chains but she ended up shifting the balance too much and her basket fell to the ground, spilling all the lemons in it.

"She's a slave." Alibaba commented lowly.

"Slave?" Solomon whispered. It reminded him of the past, the other races were also stripped of their freedom, forced to become mindless beasts. This was just sickening.

"They're treated like chattel until the day they die. Pretty rotten world we live in, right?" Alibaba averted his head downcast.

Solomon watched her pick up the lemons and went up to her. Seeing him approach, she tried to once again cover the chains but he knelt before her and blew into his flute, breaking the chain in the process. It would be no good if he used his magic here.

He stood up and smiled at her "There, now they are off." He stretched his hand out "Now you can walk without hiding anything."

Alibaba roughly grabbed him by his shoulders "Hey, this isn't good! You-"

"Why not?"

Alibaba was at a loss for words.

"Why not?" Solomon repeated firmly, an earnest expression on his face.

"Stealing slaves is a serious offense." Budel appeared, taking one of the fallen lemons "They'll chop off one of your arms for that." He went up to the girl and pulled her up by her hair "A slave's life is miserable! Even if someone does this to you…" He grabbed Morgiana by the cheeks and threw her on the ground "Or something like this…" He stomped on her hand "You can't complain!"

Solomon was trembling with anger "Please stop, mister."

Budel angrily pointed at him "What's wrong with this brat?!" _'I'm a grown man'_ "I'd be happy to report you to the executioner, you know..."

Alibaba was about to stop him but he was pulled back and two guards pointed knives at him and Solomon.

Solomon looked slightly to the left where the arm with the knife was coming from _'Would it be wrong to blast them away?'_

"Or would you rather I executed you right here and now?"

 _'Sorry, but I'd rather not be executed'_

He blew into his flute and Ugo's arms appeared, smacking the guards away and slamming together in front of the wine seller, making him faint. He high-fived his friend who then noticed Morgiana and turned pink before retreating back into the flute.

Solomon chuckled at that "Shy as always, I see."

He was startled by Alibaba grabbing him and pulling him along, hiding them both underground near a water stream.

"Hey, that flute." Alibaba wondered both confused and amazed "Something came out of it."

Solomon smiled "That was Ugo. He's an old friend of mine. He's what you would call a 'Djinn'."

Alibaba smiled understanding "Oh, is that so?" He sat down on the stairs looking like he was thinking about something. Solomon watched as a smirk grew on his face.

"Hey, Solomon?" He smiled brightly "Would you accompany me to the dungeon?"

Solomon thought about it for a bit, he did promise Ugo to search for metal vessals "Sure." What could he possibly lose?

When they headed out again, they were met by Budel. It appears Alibaba had some kind of debt because he was slow with stocking the melons, so the man pretty much forced him to do a job.

Solomon decided to stick around, maybe the boy would show some potential. Solomon might not be a Magi, that was Arba, Ugo and Sheba's role, but even he could decide who he thought might be a great king.

* * *

Solomon wasn't sure he made the right decision. Alibaba was acting all cheerful when he was actually not and agreeing with everything the man said. He could see the boy didn't like it.

He looked at Alibaba briefly before looking back in front "You should stop lying." He commented quietly "At some point, even you won't believe yourself anymore."

An orange glow illuminated the sky and the brown sand as the sun lowered itself more and more when the sand beside the wagons started to break in. Alibaba spurred the horses on but the Desert Hyacinth broke out from the earth and toppled the wagons over. As the plant continued its onslaught, a child fell into the hole it had created.

Morgiana reached out and caught the girl but ended up falling with her. Alibaba tried to reach them but failed when Budel crashed against him. The two fell into the plant which closed its leaves, trapping them.

Solomon was about to spring into action but forced himself to calm down. This was Alibaba's chance to stand up and fight. He would only interfere if it was absolutely necessary.

But it was so hard to ignore the screams of the pleading mother. Reminding him, reminding him _so_ _much_ of Falan- It hurt. It hurt so much.

It seemed his patience paid off when Alibaba struck Budel in the face as he attempted to pay the devastated mother for her child "I'll be damned if you get away with buying someone's life with that rotten wine of yours! You bastard!"

Solomon smiled proudly _'Yes, he'd make a fine King.'_

Alibaba grabbed a wine barrel from the ground and jumped. He tried to tear the leaves apart with as much force as he could muster when Solomon played on his flute. This time Ugo appeared fully, without his head though, and plummeted into the ground. He gripped the leaves and tore them open.

"Now, Alibaba!" Solomon yelled at him and the boy sprung up and threw the wine into its mouth. He grabbed Morgiana as the Hyacinth bound Ugo and was about to close his mouth again. He managed to get them out in time but fell in himself.

Solomon then used a levitation spell and brought the barrels and himself into the air with the additional help of a large piece of fabric. He looked down to Alibaba with crossed arms and a proud expression "So you're not only a liar after all. You can speak the truth, too. Things you can't buy with either wine or money, make sure to tell me more about them."

He could hear Budel scream at him but he didn't care. He pointed his staff downward and the barrels fell. The plant stopped moving as a result and let go of Ugo. Solomon let himself drop down and pulled Alibaba out.

"Thanks, Aladdin." Alibaba smiled gratefully.

Solomon smiled back _'I don't think I will get used to being called that. Ever.'_

"Hey, Alibaba?" He offered his hand "Please be my friend."

The blond nodded brightly and took his hand "Sure."

They both broke into a smile. Unfortunatly, they were interuppted by Budel who was quite angry.

Solomon looked at the man annoyed "Let's go, Ugo."

* * *

Ugo stopped before the entrance to Amon's dungeon and both jumped down as Alibaba walked up to the entrance.

Solomon turned to Ugo "Thanks for bringing us all the way."

Ugo made a dismissive hand motion and went back inside the flute.

"Aladdin." Alibaba called him "If we want to turn back, this is our last chance."

Solomon looked at him unimpressed before shoving him in and following. What stretched out before the two was the planet they were just on. Not that Alibaba knew that.

When Solomon arrived in the dungeon, he could already smell the oil. But the flames won't start. Not yet anyway. He sat down beside Alibaba and when he woke up, the first fire ignited. The blond grabbed Solomon and ran out of the water with him.

"If we were even one second too slow on the uptake, it would have been game over." Alibaba commented still watching the flames.

"Don't worry." I reassured him "If it had gotten too close, I would have teleported us."

"Teleport?" Alibaba asked impressed "So you can use more magic than summoning Ugo and flying?"

"Of course." Solomon confirmed, just a tiny bit insulted but he refused to let that show "I am a magician, after all."

"That's impressive!"

"Not as impressive as your fast reaction just now."

The path after that went fine, at least until a huge boulder started chasing after them. And making it explode would have been no good, so Solomon once again called Ugo out. Of course he could have just used Strength magic but he wasn't sure how good revealing it would be, even if Alibaba didn't know much about magic.

The blue room they fell into was filled with green bugs. Solomon chuckled when he intentionally placed one in his place and freaked Alibaba out. But the mother bug screaming and calling all the others into place was not part of that plan.

It was truly impressive, watching the prince fight them but even Solomon didn't count on it being able to breathe fire.

 _'Then again, this is_ Amon's _dungeon'_ He shouldn't be surprised.

He jumped out of the place Alibaba put them in and readied his staff "Sharrar! Sarg Al-Salos!"

Hit by the ice, the bug disappeared.

"You did it! Amazing!" Alibaba praised.

"My magic is really strong." Solomon confirmed "So we'll definitely get through this."

Both kept walking for a bit until they decided to stop and rest for a bit. Both were leaning against a wall, Alibaba while standing, he while sitting. Solomon had half a mind to put up a barrier. Someone else was there and he didn't like what he could make out from the rukh. He looked into it, Jamil. The lord of the city it seemed. He could tell this man wasn't a good person.

But he was worried about the two that he could feel accompanying him. So no, no barrier.

When Jamil and the other two found them, they straight up ignored Alibaba and went up to him.

Jamil kneeled down "I've been waiting for you, Magi. I have been waiting ten years for you to appear before me."

Solomon frowned and narrowed his eyes. First, he didn't like people kneeling in front of him, he hated it. Second, he wasn't a Magi. They were beloved by the rukh, they were beings like Ugo and Sheba. He _guided_ the rukh.

He really hoped this wouldn't become a common situation.

"I'm afraid you have the wrong person." He informed the lord.

"I most certainly do not. There's no need to be timid." The lord assured.

 _'I'm a lot of things, but most certainly not timid."_

"Sir- I'm still afraid you have the wrong person. I'm a magician, yes, but not a Magi."

"That's good enough." He seemed a bit pissed "It should be sufficient to clear this dungeon. You should at least be more useful than those useless slaves and soldiers who died at the last few traps."

That man was evil and a swine, that much was clear by now.

The next test was made up of pillars of flame. It was a bit hard not to break out into a smile when Jamil thought Alibaba was dead. Solomon had to hand it to Amon, that was smart. The right path disguised as a trap.

At some point, Jamil and Goltas went up ahead, leaving Solomon with Morgiana.

"Morgiana, you're a Fanalis, right? You're from Katargo." The red hair and eyes pretty much gave it away. It's been awhile since Solomon last saw one in their actual form though.

This surprised the girl "I am. How do you know my name?"

 _'Oh, right. I forgot. I need to remember not to address people that haven't been introduced in some way with their actual name'_ "I heard the young lord say it earlier."

"I'm sure he didn't say anything."

Damnit "Not? That's weird."

The silence after was uncomfortable and she didn't seem like the chatty type anyway. A few debrits fell on his head and he looked up to see Alibaba leaning out of a hole in the wall, making a 'shhh' sign with his hand. He jumped down, startling Morgiana.

 _'What did you make the_ shhh _sign for?'_

"How?!" She questioned taken aback.

Alibaba smirked "Because I'm invincible."

That's when Jamil ran into the room hysterically "Magician! Please take care of that monster-"

He noticed Alibaba and came to a stop.

"Sorry, but I lied about the translation." He admitted "The correct version is, 'Dance around the firesprouts. The truth is within the dragon's jaws. Everything will be found before the dragon's tail.' Thanks for helping me find the right path. I owe you one, my Lord!"

He grabbed a hold of the vine he used to get down and let Solomon levitate them both.

"Morgiana!"

The lords shout shook the girl out of her shock and she dashed up the wall, jumping to grab a hold of them but failed and fell to the ground. Solomon watched her sadly, maybe they could help her later.

Alibaba led the way to a grand room with a massive door. It occured to Solomon that it would be impossible to open the door alone, as two right hands were needed.

Wind pushed against them as the door opened, they were in Alma Torran! From a distance they could see Jamil, Morgiana and Goltas fighting against dungeon monsters.

Once again using a levitation spell the two floated towards the center.

"I don't see anyone. What is this place?" Alibaba questioned.

"The necropolis." Solomon supplied without looking up "Outside the Room of Fortitude spreads the necropolis, the city of the dead."

"The Room of Fortitude…" He looks at the sky in amazement.

After arriving, the two pushed open the door keeping them from the last room. Stepping in they could see that all the supposed 'Treasure' was in some sort of stoney state.

Behind them was a loud thud and they turned around, only barely dodging Goltas falling body. Solomon ran up to him.

"This is bad." He brought out his staff and started healing the wounds "He has severe burn wounds and cuts."

He barely avoided Morgiana's kick but it ended up breaking his spell. Jamil stepped out from behind her.

He was shivering in anger "Don't mess with me... You piece of trash… You peasant!"

 _'Is this guy describing himself?'_

"In here it doesn't matter whether you're a peasant or a lord!" Alibaba yelled at him.

"Doesn't matter?" He smiled slightly "Shut up. You weak, vulgar, worthless scum." He directed Morgiana to Solomon and she sprinted there. As Alibaba tried to stop her, Jamil intercepted him "Where do you think you're going?"

Solomon didn't really do much except throwing up a borg. Watching Alibaba was bound to be interesting. Morgiana didn't seem to think different, maybe she thought she couldn't break the borg, maybe she didn't like injuring others. He wasn't going to ask.

When she attacked Alibaba, he released the borg and shattered the sword she was holding with a blast of pure magoi. No need to use more complex magic. And something like Halharl Infigar could have hurt Alibaba, too.

And when she was about to attack him, he bound her to the wall with a simple spell but strong enough to hold a Fanalis for a bit.

"W-wait!" Jamil pleaded desperately "You were lying about being a normal magician, right? You're a Magi, right? You're going to make me the king, right? I've been waiting for you! I've been waiting for this day so I could be chosen by you! That's the sole reason I've used people, laid down the law, increased trade and turned Qishan into a prosperous city! Isn't that amazing? Aren't I amazing? I'm amazing. I'm capable of anything! So make me the king!"

"King?" _'You?'_ Solomon stared at him coldly "I told you I'm not a Magi but even so, I really don't think you're all that great, sir."

The lord slumped in defeat as Solomon turned back to Alibaba.

"Come, let's continue our adventure!" Solomon exclaimed, offering his hand.

"Yeah!" Alibaba took it.

In that moment, glowing circles started to appear beneath them as the treasure turned golden and fire erupted from the podium in the middle of the room.

From the fire emerged the 7th Djinn Amon "Who is the one who will be king? Is it you?" He looked at Jamil "No, it is not." He looked at Morgiana "Not you either." He looked at Solomon who was now behind Alibaba, shaking his head and crossing his arms "Oh! It is..." He abruptly turned to Alibaba "You!"

Amon seemed to find that amusing, he came down from the podium and closer to the two.

He bowed before us "Well, well, if it isn't a Magi."

 _'Why.'_

Solomon's flute started glowing and Ugo came out, shocking Amon. The two talked, as much as possible with one missing a head.

"I have a basic grasp on the situation now." He declared "I'm Amon. I am the Djinn of propriety and discipline and the master of flames. As the ruler of this dungeon, I recognize the two of you and declare this dungeon cleared!"

Alibaba beamed at the news and started to run around.

"Hello, Amon." Solomon greeted when he was sure Alibaba wasn't paying attention "It's nice to see you again."

"Same here, my King." Amon replied "It's certainly a surprise seeing you here in person. ...But tell me, why did you pick a boy like him?"

Solomon looks towards his friend "I don't think it's right to say that I 'picked' him. I just think he'd make a great leader someday. ...I'm not a Magi, Amon."

"I am aware. However, it's the next best thing befitting of your status because I realize you do not wish to be called upon your real name."

Solomon looked down "It's just... I have a bad feeling. I should not give out my name. To anyone. At least not yet."

"What plagues you?"

"I-"

The whole place suddenly started to shake, cutting Solomon off.

"Someone's trying to seal off the exit." Amon informed them "If he succeeds, we will no longer be able to leave this place."

"It's a magi." Solomon comments dryly.

"N-no way! Get us out of here!" Alibaba panics.

"Stop your shouting." Amon creates a beam for everyone to leave "Those who wish to leave, step into this beam. This dungeon is collapsing. Only death awaits those who are left behind."

"Hey, aren't you coming!?" Alibaba yells towards Morgiana.

"Miss, you have to hurry!" Should he just teleport her?

Morgiana kept taking steps from one side to the other when a hand took a hold of her arm. She looked up at Goltas, shocked "Goltas? You're alive."

"This man... cannot be allowed to leave." He rasped out "I have done too much evil and have killed too many people to leave this place. But you are different. You can still return. Return to your homeland, Morgiana. That is my last wish." With those words he brought his sword down and split the chain between her feet.

Solomon watched sadly as Goltas left the room. But the man didn't sound like he would accept help. Upon leaving the room themselves, Amon went into Alibaba's weapon and disappeared.

* * *

He came to, for just a moment. Solomon only needed to see his surroundings to realise he wasn't in the city anymore. But he felt so heavy and tired that he drifted back into sleep.

By the time he woke up again, the hard floor was replaced by something soft. Someone seems to have found him and was kind enough to provide him with a place to rest.

"Are you awake?" An elderly voice called out and he looked to his right "You look refreshed. The rukh seem pleased." The old woman was stirring something and smiling at him "Can you see them? The embodiments of the never-ending flow of life?"

He sat up and pulled the blanket that covered him aside, putting his feet on the floor "I can. They are always beside me."

"I can see that." She said gently "They seem to like you very much."

"Granny?" A young woman interrupted, entering the tent.

The elder turned to her "What is it Toya?"

"The scouting party has returned."

"So they have." The old woman exited the tent, leaving him alone.

He put his flute around his neck and took his staff before he stepped out. He shielded his face at the sudden light that welcomed him. He ran up to the two woman.

"Can you see them?" Baba asked him.

"Yes." Solomon nodded, hoping she was referring to the men on horses that rode towards the village.

The woman went up to them once they arrived "Welcome back, Dorji."

Toya explained to him that it was Dorji who found and helped him, so Solomon went up to him and thanked him. When he asked them about Qishan's location though, they told him that it would take him two years on foot but they assured him that there would be caravans in two weeks time, so he didn't have to worry.

Solomon was relieved to hear that. It meant less trouble and a faster way to where Alibaba was.

* * *

Once night fell, the villagers from the Kouga clan gathered around fires and had fun. Solomon sat down beside Baba, seeing as it was a bit quieter where she was.

"Everyone seems happy." He commented.

Baba smiled brightly "We are one big family after all."

"Family, huh?" He looked at the vast night sky, glittering with millions of stars and smiled slightly "I nearly had one too, long ago."

"You're family, too." She patted his back and grinned "You're one of my beloved children."

His eyed widened and he felt them water a bit before looking away "Thank you."

Baba laughed "There's no need to tear up."

"Nobody ever called my their beloved child and meant it." He explained lowly with a happy expression.

* * *

Solomon watched the horses ran around wildly. Morning seemed to have come faster than he expected. The village was rather quiet and peaceful and everyone got along, it warmed his heart to watch them interact happily.

The clan really was one big family. It made him miss Sheba and Aladdin. He wished he could have seen his son at least once in his life. Sheba did everything she could to protect everyone and Aladdin but what good was that? They won but Sheba died and so did their child. He couldn't even manage to save them. He was too late, just like the time his father- no, David, that man, he couldn't bear to call him that- attacked their base.

Falan's cries and Ithnan's expression would probably haunt him forever.

He barely missed that a horse had run past him, a horse that wasn't one of the clan's. The woman on the horse introduced herself as the first daughter of Kou's first emporer, Hakuei Ren.

Solomon decided that he liked her, she was very polite and held no ill will towards the Kouga clan. But maybe she should have kept that comment about slave trade to herself. It should be clear that nobody would like to hear that their own have suffered such a fate.

He saw Toya approach with a smile and a tray in her hands "Excuse me." She called out, catching the attention of the princess "I've prepared some horse milk. Would you like to continue this conversation inside?"

"Ah, thank you." Hakuei replied gratefully.

Toya approached her slowly, careful not to spill anything as the man to the princess' right shoved her to the ground. Solomon gripped his staff, ready to defend anyone that may come to further harm.

"Ryosai!" Hakuei reprimanded "What do you think you're doing?!"

He smirked at his superior "I cannot allow the noble princess to drink something like horse milk."

The other man of their group glared "Ryosai!"

Ryosai ignored him and screamed at the clan "Listen up, you rabble! This village is now under the control of the Kou empire. You will submit quietly! We're saving you from this crude, dirty lifestyle, after all. It's a good deal, no?"

Solomon clenched his teeth as he felt his blood boil. It seemed he wasn't the only as Dorji charged forward only to be intercepted by the blue haired man that accompanied the princess.

He frowned "Killing this man is the same as a declaration of war. Is that what you desire?"

Dorji grit his teeth "How dare you hurt my family!"

"Stop it, Dorji." Baba commanded.

"You will stand down as well, Ryosai." Hakuei ordered and started to leave "We are withdrawing."

He definitely had to talk with her later. The rukh around her retainer were worrying and he had to make sure of her intentions.

* * *

It was night by the time he departed. It didn't take him much time to arrive at his destination as he landed in front of her.

"Good evening, miss." He straightened himself and waved in greeting as her hands went to her sword, drawing it slightly "I'm Aladdin. I would like to talk to you."

She sheathed her sword and smiled kindly "I would like to speak to you as well."

Hakuei motioned to his flute as the sat together "That's a dungeon item, isn't it?"

Solomon shook his head "Not really. I had this with me ever since I left the place I stayed at." He looked her in the eye "Are you going to take over that village, miss? If so, I have to ask you to stop. Baba will be sad if you do that. They are very important to me. Don't kill them."

Hakuei clasped her hands together with a grave but determined expression "I will not kill anyone. Not a single soul." _'Not like you could hide it from me if you were to kill someone'_ "I want to create a unified world where no one will have to die needlessly. I have but good intentions and only want to use my power for good. Please believe me."

Solomon beamed slightly as he saw the rukh gather around her shining brightly "The rukh around you aren't even the slightest bit doubtful." She seemed surprised at my reply "I will talk to Baba and the others."

He floated upwards, not giving her a chance to answer.

"Miss?" He called out "Just a piece of advice, but maybe you shouldn't trust that tall retainer of yours too much. He spells trouble if you ask me."

He'd already left and was flying towards the village when he saw a quantity of rukh gathering. He stopped flying when he was beside Baba and asked her what happened. When she told him that the women were all kidnapped, he followed the men with Baba, putting her on a cloth so he could transport her easier. He would have kept following them but at some point, the elderly woman told him to stop and wait for them.

"Child, can I ask you something?" She wondered as they waited.

 _'Not a child.'_ He frowned, he was far older than her even if she didn't know that "Of course. Ask me anything you want."

She hummed "Are you a Magi?"

He let his head hang. He had hoped this wouldn't become a common situation "No, I am not." He sighed "Why do you ask?"

She laughed brightly "The rukh seem to really like you. I have never seen anything like this before in my entire life. Not only do they gather around you like you are the core of their being, they seem to react to what you do, say and seem to feel." She grinned "Maybe you're not a Magi, maybe you're something more. Life is always full of surprises."

He smiled at this "It really is. You never know what you might learn next and there is always more to know." He then remembered he still had to tell her something "By the way, I met with the Kou princess. She promised not to kill anyone, nobody has to die or go to war."

Baba was astonished "Y-you…"

She seemed at a loss for words when the men returned victorious, not having harmed a single enemy. They seemed shock when she told them they'd submit to the empire but Baba convinced them.

Solomon watched the exchange fondly _'If only it was always that easy.'_

They sat around a large fire when Dorji gifted Toya a hairclip, leading Baba to look at them with a rather funny, knowing expression, making everyone laugh. She left the gathering shortly after with the excuse of going to relieve herself. Solomon accepted that and left her to her own devices.

Just a few minutes after she left, he heard a whizzing sound and sprang up from where he sat, alarming the others. Arriving at the end of the cliff, he could see her fallen form, an arrow in her back.

The clan swarmed around her and he picked her up "She's still alive." He told them "I will bring her to the village."

He needed to remove the arrow and then heal her. He had no time to waste.

* * *

By the time he woke up, it was already morning. He looked at Baba, noting how pale she was. The important part was that she's alive. He applied some of his magic on her but she would need rest. A lot.

He could hear Dorji argue with the rest of the clan. When he heard a collective cheer he knew Dorji lost the arguement and everyone started to arm themselves. It wouldn't be long until they left to fight. It saddened him, but he doubted they would listen to him, an outsider of all people.

He stood outside and watched as they rode off, rukh passing him from behind.

* * *

Baba yelled at them as they were about to attack Hakuei once more. It was painful to watch. He let her walk to the princess alone, this was her time to act. He was relieved when everyone finally dropped their weapons but that did not stop him from worrying. Her wound my be gone but she was still weak. He had to bring her back to the village as soon as possible.

They parted ways with the princess and returned. A weight was lifted from his shoulders when Baba was in bed, safe from harm and strain.

But it was not over yet, there was still something he had to do here. The princess was in danger and he was not going to leave her to death.

"Halharl Infigar!" She was about to be struck down when a giant ball of fire crashed into the cliff behind them. Solomon glared at Ryosai and swung his staff sideways "Ramz!"

The man fell over, dead or not, Solomon wasn't too sure but he shouldn't be. He didn't put too much strenght into the attack.

Hakuei stared at him amazed as he lowered himself to the ground "What exactly… are you?"

Solomon pointed his staff at her, smiling "Just a magician."

Hakuei's wound healed, leaving only faint scars behind "A magician?" She looked down confused when her metal vessel started to glow "My fan!"

Solomon pointed at it "Could I touch your fan for just a second or two?" When she didn't reply, he took it as confirmation and touched the symbol.

Paimon cheerfully burst out of the vessel immediantly "How are you all doing? I am Paimon. Created by Solomon as the Djinn of maniacal love and chaos."

And there was one of the reasons that justified his lying about his name.

"My mistress is Queen Hakuei Ren." She explained "But where did you get the magic to materialize me?" She looked at Solomon, freezing up for just a second "Ah, I spy a talented Magician."

 _'Finally someone who doesn't say 'Magi'!'_ " The flute around his neck started glowing and Ugo came out.

"Oh goodness, and here is another special sight!" Paimon pocked Ugo with one of her fingers, turning him bright pink.

Solomon sweatdropped, Ugo was never comfortable around woman and Paimon wasn't exactly helping. They appeared to be talking when Paimon returned to Hakuei's side, holding her close.

"I understand the situation now. There are unusual events occuring around the world, aren't there? But I don't care about that. Right now, I only care to support my King Candidate, my precious Hakuei."

"King candidate?" Wouldn't Queen candidate sound better in her case?

Paimon seemed to take his words as a question "My Hakuei is a King Candidate, chosen by the Magi of the Kou empire."

* * *

 **Done with the first chapter! What do you guys think?** **I would love to have your feedback!**

 **I hope I did well with everyone's personality. I don't know why but it always worries me a bit ^^'**

 **But enough chatter for now, see you soon!**


	2. Chapter 2

**King of all Kings:**

It was a bit embarrassing that he let himself get captured like that but it's not like that would hold him. He'd just found his staff when Morgiana came through the door, giving the prisoners the keys. After talking with her, one of the merchants he was traveling with found his flute and bag.

While in Qishan, he bought himself a sword and a bag to transport supplies and changes of clothing, just in case the ones he was wearing now got dirty. Sadly he didn't find a suitable linen for further transport. He would have to look for one in Balbadd.

When he found out that Morgiana was also headed to Balbadd, they decided to travel there together. It made him happy, knowing he wouldn't have to go there by himself. This way they could both meet Alibaba again at the same time.

"Are you going to Balbadd so you can return to your homeland, Morgiana?" He turned his head to her in interest.

"Yes... And I wanted to see you. I've been wanting to thank you… and Alibaba." She stopped walking and Solomon turned around.

"Thank us?" Had they done something noteworthy? He didn't rememeber anything of the sort.

Her face turned soft "I am truly grateful to you for giving me a future of freedom. Thank you, Aladdin." She knelt down and bowed.

Solomon was taken aback and took a step backwards before walking forward and pulling her up with a gentle look "There's no need to do that. You don't have to thank us, I'm sure Alibaba feels the same. He's that nice of a person, you know."

Morgiana smiled as well when she heard that. He could see that it made her happy and that cheered him up to.

He merrily looked towards the sky "I hope we meet him soon."

"We will." She informed him "If we take this road."

He looked where she was pointing "Yeah, you're right!"

Balbadd wasn't that far away anymore. If they walked just a bit farther, they might even be able to see it already. He directed his gaze to the path in front of them again and stopped abruptly.

Right in front of them stood a man, a single leaf covering him.

It took the two a moment to comprehend the situation. The man smiled "Hey, you guys." Like nothing was wrong "Nice weather today, huh?"

Realization hit and Solomon couldn't suppress the slight shudder that came with it. What kind of person-

He immediately jumped in front of Morgiana, pulling out his staff "Stand back, Morg! I will handle this!"

"I-it's alright." She claimed, gaze downwards and hands clenched "You can leave this to me."

"He must be some kind of pervert! You shouldn't get near!" He warned her "Let me deal with this, I will fry him."

"I'll take care of it, don't worry." Morgiana assured.

The man put his hands in front of him "H-hey, no. I'm not! Please just hear me out, okay?"

* * *

The three went off the path and lit a fire, sitting down on the stones around it. Solomon handed the man one of his spare clothes, a simple pair of trousers and a top. It wouldn't do them any good to leave him like he was. They were both still mortified, especially poor Morgiana.

He could have at least hid himself behind a bush. It would have been more suspicious, but at least less embarrassing.

"Thank you for lending me your clothes, Aladdin." He told him gratefully "I'm Sinbad. I got totally cleaned out by some bandits on my way to Balbadd."

"I see…" Solomon replied "I'm sorry for earlier, sir. As someone who crossed the desert, I guess I'm just a bit paranoid about danger."

Sinbad looked very interested at that "Ah... so you've crossed the desert?"

"Yes. I saw a lot of plants and animals that I haven't before."

He put another log into the fire "Good for you… That sense of euphoria from coming upon unknown lands and knowledge… The confidence that comes from opening up paths, the experience, the bond between friends you'd risk your life for…" He looked up in excitement, his gaze directed into the far sky "Adventures are great. It's truly every man's dream."

Ah, this man reminded him of himself. The excitement and wonder whenever he learned something new, when his friends told him about new things or presented ideas and theories.

"Not only that, but..." He looked at Morgiana "One of the perks of going on a journey is meeting sweet young girls like you."

Never mind. This guy was a flirt.

Morgiana looked at him, probably not fully understanding or caring about the man's attempt when she stood up, nose high in the air.

"The scent of the ocean…" She muttered.

"You should be able to see Balbadd beyond that hill." Sinbad clarified.

Solomon and Morgiana looked at each other and ran up the hill until they could see the enormous city below.

He regarded it in amazement "So this is…"

"Balbadd…" Morgiana looked equally stunned.

"That's right." Their companion came up from behind them "This is the great coastal nation made up of several hundred islands, big and small, with this port city as its capital… the kingdom of Balbadd."

They were quick in entering and both he and Morgiana looked around in wonder. People were everywhere and there were tons of stalls selling fish and fruit. He also saw tons of fabric and sheets. Maybe he could find something he could use.

If he had to keep helping people by transporting them via air, it would be a great asset to have. With that in mind he kept looking around and when he found a stall selling many kinds of fabrics, he excused himself and went to the owner.

He returned to them with a white linen sheet.

"What do you need that for?" Morgiana asked him puzzled.

"Maybe you'll see later." He told her, putting it into his bag "I'm sure it will come in handy at some point."

The rest of the way was uneventful and Sinbad led them to a grand hotel.

He stretched his hand out, presenting the building "This is the finest luxury hotel in the country, where I always stay! I'll foot your bill, you can stay here as long as you like."

The two looked astonished. But wouldn't that be really expensive? He did just say it was the finest hotel.

"Thank you, sir!" Solomon thanked him and Morgiana bowed slightly "You're really rich then, huh?"

Sinbad laughed and went up the stairs into the building and the two followed him. Coming towards them, he could see two men. Both greeted Sinbad and exchanged a few sentences when the smaller of the two faced them.

"Our master has inconvenienced you. Just as he said, you can leave the bill for your lodgings to us."

"Thank you, sir." Solomon smiled.

He must have it hard. Sinbad seemed like a more careless type them him. Maybe he got in trouble often because his subordinate looked rather tired.

The man turned to Sinbad again "All right… as for you, do something about your attire. You can't stay in this young man's clothes forever."

He pushed Sinbad away who turned his head and waved "See ya, Aladdin and Morgiana. Why don't we have dinner together later?"

With that he was gone and the tall Fanalis followed them after looking at the two of them for a moment.

Afterwards a maid came and showed them their room. It truly was a luxury hotel, huh.

 _'And yet there are so many people suffering just outside this building.'_

"Oh, please wait for a moment, miss." He called out to the leaving maid "The ships going to the Dark Continent… where can you board them?"

Morgiana looked at him surprised. She seemed to have forgotten to ask.

"Dark?" The maid repeated, not knowing what he meant for a moment but brightened "Oh, you mean the ships heading south, right? If that's what you mean, then you should know that it's difficult at this time."

"Huh?" They were both confused at that.

"You see…" The maid started "This city is often covered by fog and recently a band of thieves has started appearing under the cover of this fog. They were just petty thieves, but their numbers have steadily swelled since they broke into the castle's treasure hall two years ago. Not only that but they've even acquired some mysterious magical powers and now they've become a major anti-government force that even the military can't handle."

 _'Mysterious power? Metal vessels_? _No, not vessels. Something else.'_

The maid resumed unhindered "They mainly attack only noblemen's mansions and government trading ships… And because they hand out the money and goods they've stolen, there are also people who view them as heroes."

Morgiana was confused by that "You mean they're chivalrous thieves?"

The maid hummed and Solomon wasn't sure if it was in agreement or not "The Fog Troop recently named a new leader, ever since that man appeared, the turmoil has been escalating."

"New leader…" Why did he have a bad feeling.

"Yes, his name is Alibaba." Did he jinx this somehow? "He's known as 'Alibaba the Wonder'."

With that, the maid left, leaving the two to their thoughts.

Solomon laid down on the bed, hands behind his head. It would only make sense for it to be their Alibaba. He was Balbadd's third prince after all. But why join the Fog Troop? Sure, he might not be seen as a legitimate heir to the throne but it would make more sense for him to reveal himself. Why the hiding?

* * *

"Don't be shy- help yourselves!" Sinbad encouraged "This is Balbadd's special, an herb-baked Eumera sea bream!"

Morgiana was drooling slightly and Solomon regarded the dish in silence. It really did seem very delicious.

Sinbad caught their attention again "Come to think of it, I haven't introduced you to my subordinates yet, have I? The one on the right is Ja'far, the one next to him is Masrur." He glanced at Morgiana "Morgiana, Masrur here is a Fanalis. So are you, right? You have the exact same eyes. Both of you."

"Hello." Masrur greeted.

"Hello..." Morgiana replied, not sure how to react and looked away.

 _'Must be because she hasn't seen one in a really long time, if she even remembers the ones she knew in the past.'_

They finished their meal and let Sinbad talk with Ja'far. Solomon went up to Masrur.

"Hey there!" Solomon greeted "I'm Aladdin. You're from the Dark Continent, just like Morg, right?"

"Yes." The man answered.

"That's amazing!" He replied "This is the second time now that I meet someone from there since I started to travel. It's been a long time since I saw a multitude of Fanalis'."

"You saw people like us before?" Morgiana asked surprised "Is that how you knew I was a Fanalis the first time we met?"

Solomon nodded "Yeah."

They didn't look like humans though. But he didn't need to tell them that. And it's not like the Fanalis are the only ones. Alibaba for example had the bearings of a hermit.

He pulled out his staff from behind his back "Would you spar with me outside the city if you have time? I haven't had a good fight in a while."

"You're a magician, Aladdin?" Sinbad asked surprised from behind them before Masrur could even answer.

"Huh?" He turned to the man "I am, I thought that much was obvious, with my staff and all."

Sinbad laughed "Sorry, sorry. I thought you were a Capturer, because of your flute. It has the symbol all metal vessels have."

"Oh, that's just my friend Ugo." He informed.

"Ugo?"

Solomon grinned "Want to meet him?"

The five of them moved to a more secluded area where Solomon played the flute. The three Sindrians where shocked and Sinbad went up to the Djinn.

He patter Ugo's arm "Aladdin... so you're a Magi, too?"

 _'...Why. Why does everyone always think that?'_

"Negative." He clarified with an uncomfortable smile "But 'too'? Do you know any Magi's? Who exactly are you?"

He could just look into the rukh, but that would be boring.

Sinbad smirked satisfied "I'm Sinbad."

 _'Very helpful, you already told us that.'_

"Huh?" He looked a bit shaken at my expression "Y-you don't know about me?" No "Like the adventures of Sindbad, and... you know…"

Sinbad's explanation sounded eventful. Solomon froze when he told him that he was the master of _seven_ Djinn's.

Wait, where were those Djinn's? He couldn't feel any trace of them and he saw no metal vessels on the man. Did he _lose_ them? How _irresponsible_ was this man? His poor comrades.

Then he remembered this guy was a flirt _._ Lord forbid Focalor was one of them.

"Well, that aside. You say you're not a Magi but I can say for sure" He gestured to Ugo "that this means you're a Magi. To generate enough magoi to effortlessy keep a Djinn materialized… that's not something a normal magician can do. A normal person doesn't have enough magoi in themselves to do that but a Magi can use the rukh around him limitlessly."

"I still have to disappoint, I'm not a Magi." Solomon retorted.

"That's fine." The king assured "But since you're a really amazing Magician, would you mind helping us out?"

* * *

"The fog is starting to roll in, isn't it?" Ja'far commented as they looked around a corner.

The fog was starting to spread, a thing veil already enveloping them and the city.

He looked at the two "I'm glad that you both came."

"If it helps us find our friend, I don't see a problem in helping." Solomon explained.

"Um..." Morgiana looked at Ja'far "Is it only Mr. Sinbad and Mr. Masrur guarding the other side?"

The man smiled "Rest assured, even if he rots, he's not known as the Conqueror of the Seven Seas for nothing!"

They stood in comfortable silence when they heard screaming, realizing that the place Sinbad and Masrur guarded got attacked. At around the same time, a reddish fog started to spread, putting the soldiers around the corner into hallucinations. The three of them sprang up onto the roof and searched for the cause as they saw several men invade a building.

Ja'far bound several and stopped them in their tracks. But he made the mistake of jumping into the courtyard and a dark purple mist engulfed him. At the same time, Morgiana entered the yard and started to attack the men while Solomon watched them from his place on the roof. He watched as Morgiana got captured as well.

He stood up straight "Asfal Riih!" The gust of wind that he created scattered the mist as he jumped down. He stretched his arms out "I won't let you pass me!"

Cassim held up his sword but was stopped by man behind him. Solomon could immediately tell that it was Alibaba. The two looked into each others eyes as Alibaba removed the fabric covering his head.

"Long time no see, Aladdin!" The blond greeted.

Solomon walked up to him "Listen, Alibaba. I came here to see you, you know. There are a lot of things I want to talk to you about. And I'm sure you remember that we promised each other we'd go see the world together. But I want to ask something first."

"What is it, Aladdin?" Alibaba looked at the taller rather uninterested.

"Tell me." He smiled "What do you think you can accomplish by acting in the shadows like this?"

* * *

"But still... Who would have ever thought that there'd be a Dungeon Capturer in the Fog Troop." Sinbad mused "Not only that but for him to be a friend of Aladdin's, too… Just who is 'Alibaba the Wonder', anyway?"

Solomon glanced at them with a bored face. Who he was is the wrong question, why he's doing this was way more important.

'It's none of your business', huh?

That's not even close to what he wanted and he was sure Alibaba misunderstood the question as well.

He was still thinking about it when night came and he sat beside the window, reading a book about Balbadd's history. An internal conflict spelt trouble and Alibaba was right in the middle of it. Could they resolve this without too much conflict? The current King didn't seem too innocent regarding the situation. Should he pay him a visit?

At this thought, Alibaba was thrown through the open window, Morgiana landing beside Solomon.

They sat together in an awkward silence.

"Y-You're looking good…" Alibaba commented.

"So do you." Solomon told him.

"We haven't seen each other in six months, huh? You seem a little different than before, don't you?"

"Yes, so do you, Alibaba." But he didn't dare say whether that was good or bad.

"Please cut to the chase." Morgiana urged indifferent.

To stop the tense atmosphere, Solomon proposed that they tell their stories first and told Alibaba everything. When it was the blonde's turn, he first told them about his friend Cassim and the incident at the castle. Then how he left Balbadd and dreamed of capturing a dungeon until he met Solomon. He came back to Balbadd after they captured the dungeon and met Cassim again.

At the end, Alibaba got desperate and told them to leave but Solomon just had one answer for that. Staff to the head. They were about to come to a peaceful end when the wall exploded, revealing the Fog Troop. They took Alibaba and fled to the roof, Morgiana and Solomon right behind them.

From downstairs, Sinbad and his two companions made an entrance through the roof. Masrur defeating many with a single attack and stopping Cassim from attacking Sinbad.

Solomon was a bit surprised when Sinbad challenged Alibaba, the man _was_ eavesdropping on them earlier, he should know who Alibaba was. Or maybe that's exactly why he did it.

But Sinbad was right, Alibaba had absolutely no idea how to really use the vessels. But what shocked him was Sinbad's suggestion to join the group. After beating their leader.

That's not how you normally do it. It seemed like Ja'far agreed with him somehow. This course action wasn't normal at all. Wasn't Sinbad supposed to apprehend them so trade could resume. Now he wanted to join them?

Maybe he got famous because of his spontaneous, unreasonable actions.

* * *

Tensions were high before the palace walls since Alibaba and Sinbad entered alone. It had been quiet for a while now and nobody knew what was going on inside. Well, nearly nobody.

Solomon quietly looked into the small puddle of water in his hands. He couldn't hear anything but it was clear that the situation wasn't good. When he saw a stranger enter the room, he was alarmed. He recognized that get-up!

How did they get out? He sealed them away with Il Illah! So this is were the 'Distortions of the World' came from. He should have known it was them!

A swarm of black rukh shook him even further as a young, black haired man passed him. And he knew, that man was a Magi. His flute started to glow and he realized, Ugo noticed as well.

Al-Thamen was back. And they had a Magi of all things under their control.

From his clairvoyance magic, he could see him enter the throne room as well, running up to Sinbad, clearly knowing the man. So that's what he meant when he asked Solomon if he was a Magi 'too'.

Right after he entered, negotiations broke down completely.

Alibaba's crestfallen expression disturbed him, so he let him go with Sinbad to inform the Fog Troop of the situation. Solomon and Morgiana stood among the crowd, watching Sinbad encourage everyone. The people were all cheered up and talked with the King afterwards.

He was about to talk to Alibaba, to cheer him up a bit more as well, when he and Ugo noticed black rukh flying around. He looked up, sure enough, the Magi was there.

"Hey, Sindbad!" He called out "So this is where you were, Your Dumbness."

"Judal." Sinbad looked up surprised and the male jumped down from his means of transport.

"What are you doing here?" He asked amused.

"Judal, did you come here on Ahbmad's orders?" Sinbad questions "Or rather, for the Kou Empire?"

"No, nothing like that." He explained "I don't really care about any of them."

 _'Then get out.'_

Sinbad looked at him with a neutral expression "What exactly do you plan to do with this country?"

"Dunno." The Magi admitted.

 _'Leave.'_

"Aladdin, are you alright?" Morgiana asked, a trembling and furiously glaring Solomon beside her.

"I've got no interest in the economy." Judal told him "What I really like is.. War."

 _'Leave...'_

He could feel Ugo trying to calm him down.

 _'Leave,Leave,Leave.'_

"The Kou Empire is really strong!" He exclaimed joyous "Their army's got tons of soldiers, and five dungeon clearers! They've even managed to make an army outta dungeon monsters. Isn't it amazing!"

"You bastards…" Sinbad commented.

 _'Leaveleaveleaveleave!'_

"Aladdin?" Alibaba whispered worried.

"Oh, don't get me wrong." Judal said with a smirk "The one I really want to join up with is you, Sinbad. That's why you should hurry up and conquer the world with me!"

 _'...'_ Solomon gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

"Aladdin!" Now it was Ja'far's, who had been beside them the entire time, turn to be worried.

"The Kou Emporer is so dense. Come one, Sinbad." Judal urged.

"I won't ever become your puppet." Sinbad shot back.

"Heh, you're giving me that reply again?" Judal asked when he suddenly noticed the rukh swarming to a single place on the left "Huh?"

 _'...'_

 _'Leave'_

 _'Leave!'_

Solomon was still trembling and glaring at the ground like he could break it into a ravine. He didn't even hear them talk about him, hear Sinbad call him a Magi again, didn't notice Judal running up to him, didn't hear him ask for his name, didn't see the outstretched hand that suddenly turned into a fist, aimed at his face.

"LEAVE!"

A loud thud reverberated around the entire plaza.

Solomon was breathing heavily as he straightend himself, this time glaring at Judal's fallen form.

No, this was wrong. This man was only their puppet. It wasn't his fault. He's not with them out of his own free will. He was just being used. It wasn't his fault. It wasn't his fault.

 _'But wasn't he just about to hit me, too?'_

His breathing became more even and he stopped trembling, but his eyes were shadowed and not couldn't be seen.

The rukh fluttered around him in decreasing panic. They clung to his form like they wanted to hug and comfort him. He mentally reprimanded himself for losing control.

His glare softend a bit when he looked at Judal who was clutching his face.

"So you want to fight, huh?" Judal glared at him.

"It's not that I want to fight." Solomon sighed "I apologize for my earlier reaction, but in my defense, you were about to hit me, too."

"Both of you, stop it!" Sinbad yelled.

"Shut up, Sinbad." snapped Judal "This is a fight between Magi. A mere human has no right to interfere. And besides, you couldn't stop me even if you wanted to. After all, you don't even have a single metal vessel on you." He turned back to Solomon "Let's get this party started already, twerp."

"First of all." Solomon stated bored "I'm not silly or annoying enough to be called a twerp. Second-" He leaned his staff against his shoulder "I'm not a Magi."

"Then what?" Judal asked annoyed "The rukh are swarming to you like a child to their mother!"

Solomon grinned "Why should I tell you?"

Judal outright glared at him in anger "You-"

He took his wand out, creating a massive amount of lightning that he sent towards Solomon. The Alma Torran King smirked.

"Dhoruf Sabaha!"

In an instant, Judal was struck down by his own lightning. Using the momentary confusion, Solomon threw him upwards with another spell, forcefully keeping him there when Judal tried to get back down.

Solomon held up his left hand and lowered it in a quick motion "Dhoruf Luyila!"

His opponent smacked into the ground with a loud crash and Solomon thought that he may have overdone it for a moment when Judal staggered up.

"Wow." He coughed out "You got some really impressive magic power for 'not being a Magi'. But you haven't seen what my magic can really do yet." The black Magi gathered the city's fog in the air "Balbadd is a city of fog." He explained "I can gather as much water as I want. And if I control it even more…" He floated upwards "I can use my specialty: Ice magic!"

Solomon watched the light reflect on the shards of ice the Magi created.

Judal directed his magic downwards "Sarg Al-Salos!"

Solomon gathered water from around the city and put it opposite to Judal's magic "Sarg Hajar!"

Ice hit ice as the spells collided and Solomon pointed his staff towards the giant wall.

"Halhal Raqi!"

Judal's ice exploded and Solomon dropped his ice wall, letting it return to normal water.

"Not bad." Judal mused "But how about this?"

Several more ice shards appeared in the sky, scaring the men around Solomon that hadn't fled yet.

Solomon however decided that it was enough, so when Judal sent the attack flying, he evaporated it "Halharl Infigar!"

The ice was reduced to nothing more than slight steam in mere seconds.

"Dhoruf Luyila!" Judal once again crashed into the ground and Solomon jumped forward swinging his staff downwards into him as Judal tried to stand up "Hadika Hadeka!"

Solomon relaxed when it became apparent that his enemy was not conscious any longer. He jolted in shock when someone put his arm around his shoulder.

"That was amazing!" Alibaba praised impressed "Why did you never tell us your magic was _that_ powerful?!"

Solomon just stood there silently for a moment, then his expression turned into a faint smile "It would have been too complex for you to understand my ramblings. That and the impact of magic varies and often can't be put into words." He frowned as he looked at the sky "But we should move for now. Something's coming and I think they're here because of the Magi. We should go before we get into trouble."

* * *

Solomon listened to Deputy King Sahbmad's story with closed eyes. The situation was grim. A king who cared so little about his people had no right to reign. He opened his eyes and looked at Alibaba.

 _'What will you do?'_

There were not a lot of solutions but he believed Alibaba may be able to find one. He still believed that when they left him alone with Sinbad, Ja'far and Masrur later on after they talked about the Kou empire.

He squeezed Alibaba's shoulder lightly before he left, their eyes meeting.

This very day passed quickly and before he was really aware of it, it was already morning again. He could see Alibaba storm out the door with his face hidden and stood up.

It seemed like the blonde had found his way. He followed Morgiana over the rooftops and let her deal with the monkeys in Alibaba's stead. He kept following until Alibaba was intercepted by another opponent. The last of those weird guards, Solomon suspected.

Alibaba managed to cut his opponents sword in the first attack when Solomon called out to him.

"I will deal with this." He assured his friend, shifting his hold on his staff.

"But you're a Magician!" Alibaba warned "That can't work in every situation!"

"I know." He told him "That's why I learned to fight with a sword. Go already!"

He started to run towards the exit when the cheetah man tried to attack him but Solomon parried the strike, allowing Alibaba to get away.

"Do you really think you could win with just a staff as a weapon?" Engi aksed

"Nope." He put his staff behind his back and pulled his sword out "But it was easier to let him get away without the extra time needed to draw my sword." He smiled amused "I often use my wand in place of a sword though, so if I find myself sword fighting with it, I'm not really surprised."

"What lousy behaviour!" He lunged forward.

Solomon deflected the blow and aimed his sword at the man's side, narrowly missing him when he jumped backwards. Both charged forward and clashed, again and again.

Engi runs towards him once more and Solomon ducked, knocking him off his feet by kicking his legs sideways and impales the man in the chest.

He put his sword away and sat down in front of the heavy door leading further into the palace. It wouldn't take long for a new face to come along. True to his thoughts, the eighth princess of Kou arrived, coming to a stop in front of him.

He grinned cheerfully.

* * *

He stood beside the door to the throne room as Alibaba and the princess talked. He inwardly facepalmed as Sinbad arrived and introduced himself to her. That guy…

Oh well, he knew he could trust Alibaba to sort this out but he now had more important things to do.

Someone was trying to reverse the flow of fate. Black rukh were gathering, tainting even the ones close to his own. And he had a feeling he knew one of the people responsible.

Ithnan. He wondered if it was smart to confront him. He was sure he could overpower the green haired male if he wanted. He stopped his stride when he felt his consciousness fade.

He found himself in the Sacred Palace when he opened his eyes again. Great, now his consciousness was in three different places.

He walked up the stairs and saw Ugo sitting there "What is it?"

The giant frowned "As you've surely noticed, there are people who are trying to reverse the flow of fate. Al-Thamen, to be exact."

"It's hard to miss." He admitted "I noticed Ithnan there, too…"

"That's just how things are now." Ugo told him "In order to stop this, we have to create a miracle."

"That's what we and the Magi's are for." He commented "...Have you tried bringing that Magi here?"

"Yes." He admitted "But I was unable to."

"That's unfortunate." Solomon conceded "But I'm sure that's not the only reason you called."

"That's true." The giant smiled "There's a very interesting discovery I made. I think it might come in handy later on."

The King was captivated "Let's hear it."

* * *

"You can't even beat that excuse of a Djinn?"

Morgiana whirled around "Aladdin!"

"Where were you?" Sinbad asked "You weren't in the palace when we exited it."

Solomon smiles "I was in a faraway place. But I don't think that's important. Want me to help?"

"There you are!" Judal yelled at him.

Solomon turned to him "Oh, you're up again?"

This pissed the Magi off "I won't lose this time. 'Cause now I've got a Djinn!"

"Too bad." He countered "But I won't be the main force fighting today. I'm leaving the Djinn for Alibaba."

"But..." Alibaba started "I don't have a sword and I'm out of magoi. I can't fight anymore!"

Solomon put his hand on his shoulder "That's not true at all. Look carefully now." He sent his magoi out, showing Alibaba the citizens "This country still holds hope. A fire that will allow them to get on with their lives and overcome their fates! You sparked that. You're the one who raised their spirits! The rukh are drawn by that desire to live! To move onward! That's why we can still fight!"

He looked towards Morgiana "Morg, please bring Mr Sinbad into the city. There are people there he needs to see."

"B-but..." She worried.

"It'll be okay. Now go!"

After Morgiana disappeared with Sinbad, he looked towards Judal. An eight-pointed star-shaped symbol with a ring around it made itself shown on his forehead. He summoned a giant Halharl Infigar and dropped it down on both him and Alibaba.

"Now go!" He told his friend who sprinted towards the Djinn.

He managed to impale it but was swallowed in the process as it regenerated.

"What?" Judal asked amused "Did he get swallowed by the black Djinn? Guess he was just bluffing."

Solomon looked at the Magi "There's something I have to tell you, too."

"Huh?"

The symbol on his forehead started glowing.

"W-what is that?" His eyes went wide in shock at the rukh's memory "W-what's happening? Stop! Stop! STOP!"

He fell downwards, clutching his head. Soon after, the Djinn started to glow before it burst into a great beam of light.

Judal, who was still on the ground, was picked up by Ithnan's magic. Solomon looked at his once friend.

"We will meet again." Ithnan voiced before he vanished "Solomon."

Solomon closed his eyes for a moment with a frown and looked at Alibaba. Sad as this was...

"Alibaba." Solomon said, trying to comfort him "You can't keep crying. Or he won't be able to return."

* * *

Balbadd was rebuilding and Alibaba was working hard to help turn it into a republic. He and Solomon were outside on a balcony when a snake bit Alibaba. It gave Solomon a bad feeling. It might not be poisonous but... This snake…

Ithnan...

Should he wait? Calling him out right now wouldn't be the best idea. He wondered what the former Divine Staff wielder was planning.

They were interuppted by a soldier telling them about an armada from the Kou empire. They had to knock out Alibaba so he wouldn't try fighting against Kou's forces.

Together, they put him on a ship to Sindria that they all sailed on.

* * *

It took a terribly long time for Sinbad to return to Sindria. But when he did, he immediately told Alibaba about the meeting results. He couldn't agree with him asking Alibaba for help in the fight against Al-Thamen though. That was too risky.

But what irked Solomon a bit more was that he told him to learn under one of the magic instructors.

 _'You can exchange information with each other, yeah right.'_

He was sure he didn't use any too advanced magic and when it came down to his manipulation of the laws of physics, he couldn't teach that. Or did Sinbad think he could learn some more advanced magic? He could already use such magic just fine.

What a bother.

He had to admit that Yamraiha was very talented though. And the rest of his generals as well. But that only proved how capable they were.

The festival was great, too. Minus Morgiana bowing. One great thing about it was that he could now officially help in the fight against Al-Thamen. He would have fought one way or another but if somebody knew and wasn't going to question him, then it was even better.

The next day, the prince from Kou arrived, together with Princess Kougyoku. After a rather funny 'conversation', everyone settled down. The rest of the day and the next was exchanging information with Yamraiha for him. If you could even call it that.

And on that same day, Ithnan worked his magic.

* * *

 **So what do you think about this chapter? Be sure to tell me!**

 **I originally wanted Solomon to stop the entire Cassim situation before it happened but as you can see… yeah, that didn't happen. I also find it funny that both Sinbad and Focalor are womanizers.**


	3. Chapter 3

**King of all Kings:**

This really wasn't pleasant. First Ithnan curses both Alibaba and Sinbad, to which he was conveniently absent, then they have to go to Zagan's dungeon. Not that he minded seeing his old friend again.

The people of Toran were very lively. It reminded him of days long gone. They even marked the place where the third eye would be, only in blue paint instead of red.

He saw a flash of very light green hair pass him, the person's rukh didn't exactly scream 'Good Intentions'. And the person beside her, he was nothing but iron sand. His soul was already part of the Great Flow, for years now.

The lady must be a master of lightning magic.

"E-excuse me." A child's voice caught his attention. She looked sort of… pained "A-are you going to the dungeon?"

Hakuryuu nodded "Yes."

"Then I have a request! Please take me with you!" She pleaded with tears in her eyes "I want to save my parents!"

"Did your parents…" Pisti didn't finish her sentence.

Solomon looked back and forth between the two "What are you talking about?"

Pisti raised a finger, thinking "Unlike other dungeons, Zagan supposedly eats people."

"Eats people?" He asked shocked.

Zagan may not like humans that much but _eat_ them? Were they talking about the same person?

"Yes." Pisti confirmed "The story is that those who approach Zagan are dragged in and devoured. I've heard that a number of people on this island have already fallen to Zagan."

Weren't they just exaggerating? Did they expect them to show up again suddenly without having cleared the dungeon? It wouldn't be the first time people fell victim to a dungeon.

"No one's tried to approach the dungeon since." The little girl told them "Everyone says the people who were swallowed are dead." They weren't, surprising as it was "That's why I have to be the one to save my parents! Please take me with you!"

"We can't. You'll hold us back." Smooth, Alibaba, smooth "We can't bring you along."

"But I want to save them!" She begged.

Alibaba sighed heavily "But..."

Hakuryuu interrupted him "I understand. I will save them for you." He held the girls shoulder, looking into her eyes "I will definitely find your parents for you. If they're dead, I will defeat everything that lives in that dungeon. All right?"

That's a bad idea.

Soon after, they were on boats sailing towards the spot where the dungeon was. It didn't take long for them to spot it and get dragged in.

Zagan's dungeon itself was surprising. To think the dungeon creatures all had tiny little homes. Morgiana found the right path though, leading them to a giant bear asking for honey. Solomon had to face it, Zagan's dungeon was the definition of don't judge a book by its cover.

But what truly shook him to the core was the next room. Was this really Zagan's work…?

"Welcome to my living dunegon." One of the sprouts grew and opened, revealing a djinn.

Only that it was not. Solomon knew, a Djinn could not leave the treasury. Something else was happening. And he was going to get his answers, one way or another.

He snapped out of it when Hakuryuu attempted to sever one of the human from a tree.

"This was done with a complicated set of commands." Solomon explained, stopping him "It's hard to fix when you don't know them. Making Zagan reverse it is the easiest way." He sighed "If it's of any value, no one here is dead."

"Why would a Djinn need to do something like this?" Alibaba asked enraged.

Zagan smirked satisfied "Why? Because I hate humans. I'd rather die than choose a king and go outside and live among them! I'm going to live here forever, just me and the innocent creatures of my living dungeon! We'll keep tormenting those terrible humans together."

They're not _that_ terrible. Al-Thamen and the Orthodox Church aside.

* * *

He was never going to see another rabbit again without expecting it to grow a giant mouth full of teeth. The golems weren't fun to fight against either. Not that it was difficult.

Only a bit annoying.

And then fake-Zagan was annoying again, too.

"But there's one of you who's holding the rest back. Who oh who could it be?" He sang "It's you, the guy with a scarred face! You've done nothing but play damsel in distress. All you do is burden them. Do you really deserve to call yourself part of their group? You can't do a single thing!"

The rukh around Hakuryuu were all agitated.

He started crying vehemtly, shocking _everyone_ "I know that! I'm trying my best!"

Even Fakey was shocked "What? Are you crying? For real?"

"Go back to your flowers, you stupid masked pervert!"

Fakey, no, he wasn't going to call him anything else, cringed. It was own fault.

"C-calm down!" Alibaba tried to soothe him.

Hakuryuu grabbed his collar "Don't even talk to me, you happy-go-lucky idiot! How did someone like you even become strong?!" He shook the poor former prince "You abandoned your own country and now you're lazing around Sindria-"

"Prince Hakuryuu, that's enough!" Morgiana interjected.

He let go of Alibaba and turned to Morgiana "Right back at you, freakishly strong girl!"

This shocked her and Solomon tried to calm the shaking prince down "Please calm down!"

He screamed at Solomon "You can put a lid on it too, stupid magician!"

Okay, that surprised him. He was never called stupid before. The poor prince must be really upset. He even called Fakey a masked pervert, not knowing it was a fake.

The prince broke cried even harder "This is stupid, I'm stupid and you're all stupid, too! Stupid!"

* * *

After making up, they continued, arriving at an open space, Fakey sprouting out of a flower again. In Solomon's opinion, this guy was acting too smug for an imposter.

"Halharl Rasas!"

"Oh?" Fakey asked surprised after he shielded himself from the fire "Then I guess you don't need my help?"

"Stop acting." Solomon said coldly "You're nothing but a fake, you couldn't help us anyway."

"Aladdin?" Alibaba wondered, not knowing what he was talking about. The others shared his clueless expression.

"If he was a Djinn, there's no way that could've hurt him but part of him burnt off!"

"Tch!" Fakey sounded annoyed "I wanted to scare you guys some more! It's as he says, I'm not a Djinn. I'm a dungeon creature created by Zagan to look like him." He stuck his tongue out.

Alibaba got angry and ended up attacking the imposter but it only ended up in multiple copies and them falling into a trap. Solomon used the cloth to help levitate them but it ended up ripped due to the fake.

He would used normal levitation but Morg activated her household vessel, so he left it to the Fanalis but he was too late in stopping her from jumping down again. They followed her after the light from inside the tunnel vanished.

She was in a horrible state. She didn't have that much magoi to begin with, to lose so much at once… He could give her some, but it wouldn't help her permanently. Even a doctor might not be able to help.

They had to get to the real Zagan. Fast.

Just then, Tiare, the girl from the village, appeared from the rubble that used to be Fakey. Together they went through the next door, finally landing them in the Necropolis that used to be the Underground City Zagan.

Solomon wasted no time in throwing up a borg.

"So we meet again, Solomon." The head of the stone dragon drew back "And King Alibaba. How's your injury?"

"You!" Alibaba yelled angry.

"Even in your condition, you've all made it here to Zagan's deepest recesses in such a timely manner." Ithnan praised "You truly are impressive Solomon and his Candidate. Though, the former really shouldn't be. But then, this is the end."

"Shut up!" Alibaba stopped him "We won't let you take Zagan."

If only that was all.

"Zagan's just a bonus." _'Knew it'_ "My true objective isn't him. It's all of you." He threw his arms up into the air "I will have Solomon himself and King Alibaba's life to offer to our Father. All is according to Al-Thamen's agenda."

Al-Thamen. _Al-Thamen._

He couldn't _hear_ it anymore. Couldn't _bear_ it anymore.

"Prince Hakuryuu." He spoke, voice devoid of emotion "Take Morgiana and that girl to safety! Alibaba, give them back-up."

Alibaba protested "But-"

"GO!" Solomon bellowed.

This was _his_ enemy. _His_ fight.

 _His fault!_

He was going to save those people! He couldn't bring back the knight, but he could save the princess!

And maybe, just maybe...

Ithnan, too.

Hakuryuu and the others scurried away. They wouldn't be in his way now. He had free reign of the place. But he didn't really care.

He attempted to stop the former princess from stabbing herself and transforming but her knight interfered. Troublesome. The puppet would have to go first.

Fine with him. It was easy enough.

He dodges a blow from the knight and blocked on of the monsters attacks with his borg "Al Raqesa!"

The knight stopped moving, only twitching ever so slightly.

Sending multiple magoi shots at the princess, he bound her to one of the nearby buildings. But Ithnan just had to get one more word in. Or 4. He watched as the monsters form shrank, leaving behind a humanoid shape.

Dark Djinn Equip?

Nothing he wouldn't be able to beat.

"Flash!" The beam of light landed a direct hit as and he gathered more magoi "Flash! Flash!"

Dunya was falling backwards, still standing after being hit three times. He charged forward with impressive speed.

He skidded to a halt right in front of her, pointing his want at her face.

"Dhoruf Luyila!"

Behind him, the knight fell apart.

The princess, still conscious, unsteadily went up to the pile of sand. Her rukh was starting to turn, their colour darkening more and more.

Solomon sighed, putting up a borg to keep Ithnan out and activated the Wisdom. It didn't take long for him to find the girl's knight, pushing him towards the person he once served under.

It was a tranquil scene.

Isaac left shortly, but Dunya had a peaceful and happy smile on her face. But today took a toll on her as her consciousness faded. He caught her and looked at Ithnan.

He wanted to question his once friend but he disappeared amidst thousands of black rukh. He shouldn't be surprised, they're enemies and Ithnan had nothing to talk with him about.

He held Dunya up and made his way towards the others who were nearly at the treasure room.

"Why is she here?" Hakuryuu asked curious.

"She's not an enemy at the moment." Solomon explained "She was simply used by Al-Thamen."

He accepted the explanation as they hurried towards the treasury. They had to hurry for Morgiana's sake.

Once they arrived, Solomon looked around for the chest that was Zagan's metal vessel. As he touched it, a bright light illuminated the room, turning stone to gold. At the same time, something flew out of the chest, manifesting before them.

The Djiin loomed above them "Who will... become King...?" He looked down on them with glaring eyes "My name is Zagan… The Djinn of loyality and purity!"

Hakuryuu and Alibaba looked at the Djinn shocked and scared of his expression, fearing the Djinn might not hear them out and instigate another fight. Solomon had the tiniest of smiles on his face. He couldn't blame them.

The Djinn had a truly grave expression on his face, showing just how displeased he was.

Zagan's expression changed as his eyes fell on me "My King..."

Solomon should have brought Ugo out and let him explain the situation. Now it was too late.

The Djinn quickly kneeled "It's been a truly long time. I have to apologize… for many things…"

The others were stunned by his behaviour which differed greatly from Fakey's. Oh, they were in for a surprise.

"I will immediately reverse the magic cast upon the villagers." He assured "That's a reckless action that my labyrinth creatures performed but the Djinn cannot leave the treasury, so I could not stop them… Forgive me please…" He really did seem sorry and he raised himself and looked at Morgiana "This is not even enough to make up for what happened but... I will give a part of the magoi in my dungeon to that girl to heal her. This will save her life."

The boys brightened as colour returned to the Fanalis cheeks and Alibaba thanked Zagan which the latter ignored. When he tried to talk to him again, Zagan showed his distaste.

Solomon had to hold back a chuckle. Zagan never liked humans, whether it was him or a copy. That would stay the same. At least he tolerated them.

"Could you please let only King Solomon talk to me? Others than him and non-Magi make me feel sick." His expression certainly didn't look well before he turned to me "But I am truly surprised to see you here, my King. I was sure you would never return, yet here you are."

"A lot happened." Solomon explained, rubbing the back of his head "It's a bit complicated, so I don't want to start explaining now."

"Then I won't ask you to." He turned to the others with a glare "Well, let's choose the King."

* * *

The Toran villagers were embracing each other as they were freed and Tiare found her parents quickly. Solomon smiled, seeing them happy and talking in that old, familiar language.

He never realised how he'd missed hearing it.

But they had other problems. The curse was still placed on Alibaba and it had to be removed. He tapped the blonde's shoulder and told him to lie down so he could help him remove the curse.

"You can do that?!" He asked surprised.

The King sighed "I would prefer not to do it myself, but now is the best time. It's better to get rid of it before it spreads more."

Alibaba nodded and Solomon turned to their companions.

"Could you make sure nobody disturbs us? We're going to be unconscious for a while."

"Of course." Hakuryuu was fast to answer "We will keep watch."

Solomon nodded and activated the Wisdom, diving into his friends consciousness. If Alibaba had been more corrupted, he would have probably found a version of him here but all he encountered were fragments of memories until he came face to face with the nucleus of the curse.

White rukh spread around him as black rukh flew around his only companion in this vast space.

"It has been long since we really talked." He began.

"We never talked much to begin with." Ithnan countered.

"But not as little as nowadays." He threw back.

"You should just erase me." Ithnan told him "I'm nothing more than a nucleus of a curse now. My real body was killed by Sinbad not too long ago."

"I don't really understand, Ithnan, why you do all of this." The King muttered loud enough for the man to hear "Why do you resent this world so much? This isn't Alma Torran. Because of your actions, wars and poverty are spreading throughout the world… Why are you doing such a thing?"

"In order to create the 'Darkness' in this world and as a result, free everything. Free from the prison of being dominated… from the structure of this world. In other words 'Destiny'. To escape from an unavoidable road that leads to an end, decided by someone… there's only one way to escape and survive. That is, falling into depravity!" He glared at Solomon "We will not do as destiny says!"

"You have the wrong idea about destiny...!" Solomon claimed "Destiny isn't something to make you do as you're told. By overcoming difficulties, life and this whole world can advance forward. That's what destiny is for. A world that has lost the power to advance will be destroyed…" His expression turned soft and he glanced downwards "Just like... Alma Torran."

Ithnan looked up into the vast ceiling of the space they were in "Ever since 'Alma Torran', we debated over this a million times. We never see eye to eye with each other. Even in this world, we never will." He once again glared at his former King "I have nothing more to say to you! Erase me!"

Solomon looked at him with a pained expression "Ithnan, when we saw Il Illah... Arba, Ugo, Sheba and me... I wanted to change 'Destiny'. I wanted to share God with every single intelligent life form. That way, every one of us could become the master of this world. So that we could change it with our own hands. That's how today's 'destiny' came to be."

Silence was all that followed.

"We still... won't see eye to eye with you." Ithnan spoke after a while "But this is such a disgrace…" White light engulfed him "To think that I would go with such a serene state of mine," He took off his mask and smiled slightly "with you in front of me, when I'd thought I'd never be able to fully face you again."

"Ithnan!" Solomon called as the light grew "I... As Wahid said back then, the rukh of the dead goes to the Master of the World. The rukh from the people during Il Illah's reign are sealed with him and the people affected with the black rukh go somewhere entirely else but..." The light was almost everywhere now "I will find a way to bring everyone together! I promise!"

He felt something wet on his shoulder as the light that now made up Ithnan embraced him.

"I will hold you to that, my King."

* * *

As Solomon opened his eyes again, he didn't notice the tears streaming down his face at first. Not until Hakuryuu offered him a piece of cloth, asking him if he was okay.

"I'm fine." He answered, taking the cloth "Maybe I overdid it."

He wasn't going to tell them that tears can't come from overworking. He just hoped none of them had enough magical knowledge to notice.

He had a promise to keep now and he was going to see it through.

* * *

Some time after they arrived back in Sindria and experienced a great festival, Dunya woke up. But as soon as she learned that Yamraiha came from Magnostadt, she stopped speaking to anyone aside from Solomon which amused the man to no end.

He was a magician after all.

He may not have come from Magnostadt, be he was still a user of magic. But he supposed it was because he wasn't part of Sindria either.

He could clearly see the woman's life was in danger. But he had to wait until she was comfortable enough with him to heal her. It would do no good to try helping her when she clearly didn't like magic.

What to do, what to do?

It didn't take long for Sinbad to try and talk to her personally. As soon as he and Yamraiha entered, Dunya's eyes grew cold. Sinbad tried to assure her they were not in league with Magnostadt but as soon as he took her hand, the energy of the metal vessels connected, breaking them apart.

Dunya's chest and arms started to glow purple as black crystals emerged and Solomon grabbed his staff, using magic to stop the proliferation. He told the two to stand back and used the Wisdom to break the dark crystals away.

"Aladdin, how did you do that?" Yamraiha asked confused and amazed as the crystals burst and vanished.

"I-" Dunya started to have trouble breathing and Solomon's face turned serious "Yamraiha, you and Sinbad get out. Call someone to bring cold water and a cloth but tell them not to come in until I call."

Sinbad hesitated as Yamraiha already went to get someone "What are you-"

Solomon glared at him darkly "I'm going to use magic to help her. Now if you could please _get out._ "

"Y-yes!" Sinbad hurried out and closed the door.

Solomon sighed. He would have to use a Al-Kimia Al-Quadima spell for this. Alchemic magic was the only way now. He took Dunya's arm and concentrated.

Not only would he have to reconstruct her body on a molecular level, he'd have to make sure only the white rukh remains.

It only took few seconds but it felt like eternity on him. He sighed again, this time relieved and called the help Yamraiha organized after making sure Dunya was okay now.

He was glad Sinbad listened in the end and left. He didn't care much if people knew what types of magic he could use but something about Sinbad rubbed him wrong. He knew the man was half-fallen but that wasn't it. Maybe it was because the man was a first class singularity.

Or maybe because he reminded him of David.

He didn't know why but sometimes when he looked at Sinbad, he would be reminded of the man that was supposed to be his father. But that could also be because David was a singularity as well.

And Yamraiha was one of his generals. He might ask her what happened and he had no doubt she would have told him.

* * *

Dunya didn't really like it when he told her of his plans to go to Magnostadt.

"But why?" She asked softly.

"If that country discriminates between magicians and other people," He began "I've got to see it for myself." He looked at her sadly "The same thing happened where I was born… I can't leave it like this."

"Where would that be?" She wondered weakly.

He smiled slightly "Nobody knows about it anymore… It's very, very… terribly far away, you see…"

"What is it called?"

"Promise not to tell anyone?" He had a feeling he could say it without anyone else finding out. He wanted to say it at least once more without someone from the past present or involved.

The princess smiled warmly "Yes."

Solomon exhaled slightly and looked at the ceiling "It's called… Alma Torran."

* * *

Alibaba didn't take well to his decision of going to Magnostadt.

"Alibaba..." Solomon started "Magnostadt has a very troubling system. I... saw something similar before. I can't let this go on as is, not with the knowledge I have."

Alibaba still didn't seem to take well to it but then he frowned, like he'd made up his mind "Fine, under one condition I will stop being hesitant to let you go off on your own."

"What is it?" He felt wary all of a sudden.

Alibaba gazed at him relentlessly "Why did Zagan call you 'King', better yet, why 'King Solomon'? Did you lie about who you are? Don't you trust us?"

Now he looked hurt. He knew he should have done something, _anything_ to make sure Zagan wouldn't mention it. Now it was too late.

Morgiana looked interested, too.

 _'Great, no getting out of this one.'_

He laughed nervously, putting a hand in front of him "I can explain, so don't interrupt please." When they made no move to, he continued "When I first met Alibaba, I wasn't too sure about anyone knowing my name. I was pondering if I should tell you or not but in the panic blurted out the name of someone… _dear_ to me. My actual name is Solomon, but please don't call me that."

"Why not?" Morgiana asked quietly.

"I'm getting there." He answered, uncomfortable under their stares "There are people in Al-Thamen, like Ithnan, who would recognize that name from… a 'kingdom'... of sorts…"

"Why would that be important to them?" Alibaba questioned and paused for a moment "Are you a King on the run?"

He inhaled sharply "I wish." They looked at him funny "It's more complicated than that. I'm hardly a King. I can't seem to do anything right, much less make important decisions without someone getting angry and starting a war."

They looked at him with wide open, horrified eyes "A war?!"

"I never said a war happened." Solomon spoke up.

"But you made it sound like it did!" Alibaba cut in.

"Please." Solomon tried to calm him down "It was more of a 'One side of the Kingdom against the other'."

...

"We won?"

"Don't say it like that's what's important!" Alibaba yelled "You had a _civil war_? I know I have no right to say it but why aren't you there?"

"First!" He put a hand on Alibaba's mouth "Stop shouting. Walls have ears, you know. We're lucky as is that no one's eavesdropping this time." Like Sinbad back in Balbadd "Next, I can't be there. Even if I was, it would do literally nothing."

Morgiana looked confused "Why not?"

He looked away with a hurt face "It's too far away and not really there anymore."

"It's gone?" Wondered Alibaba and Solomon nodded "But you just said you won the war!"

"We won the _war_!" He repeated "But I was... not capable of… _doing_ … something. There were problems afterwards. I was unable to even talk to them, weird as it sounds. It was fine for a couple of years but resources were low and eventually ran out."

"So everyone had to move?" Alibaba asked.

He nodded again "Yes."

"An _entire_ Kingdom?" He emphasized.

Oh, it was more than _just_ a kingdom "Yes."

"Why didn't you ask your neighboring countries for help?! Surely not all of them were jerks and left you alone! …Did you… have neighboring countries...?" Alibaba's voice faded at the end.

"Not really." Solomon admitted "We had _allies_ , for lack of a better term, but they were already with us and faced with the same problem."

"Okay, that explains some things." Alibaba said "But it doesn't explain one thing."

"Which one?" He tilted his head.

Alibaba peered at him "Why would a Djinn of all... beings… call you 'King'?"

Okay, there was no way he could sugarcoat that or make it sound 'normal'. What to do, what to do? Great, he was on the verge of panicking, just great.

"They…" He started slowly "must be… calling every royalty that?" Their unconvinced faces disturbed him greatly "Hey!" He put his hands up "How am I supposed to know!?"

"Zagan let you speak with him." Alibaba reminded, like it was a miracle which I should have not been deemed worthy of if it wasn't something deeper.

"I'm a Magician, remember?" He tried, hoping this worked "Zagan also said he'd let Magi talk to him and I _am_ rather strong. Maybe he made an exception. Ask him, not me!"

"We can't exactly do that…" Alibaba told him like it was obvious "But fine, I believe you." Solomon surpressed a relieved sigh. Alibaba put a hand on his right soulder and Morgiana one on the other "But remember that we're your friends, you can trust us!" He smiled "We will be at your side no matter what!"

 _'Yeah, that's what I thought about Ithnan and the others, too.'_

"Thank you, Alibaba, Morgiana. You're the best."

* * *

On the next day, Alibaba, Morgiana, Hakuryuu and Solomon traveled away from Sindria on a ship. It was even more peaceful than expected. But when they were about to reach port, Morgiana noticed something off about it.

At the same time, a male teen floated out of the water in a water bubble, ships behind him in the same state. Magic tool then. Needless to say, he scared them away. Water magic just isn't effective against something like Ramz or a Halharl powerful enough to evaporate it.

After docking, the Navy explained the situation to them when shouts arose from behind them. The navy didn't help them. Solomon looked at the others, they thought the same. They had to help.

Luckily, Hakuryuu was still there. He and Zagan were very helpful in tracking the hideout. But the problem was to get in. Or it would be. Morgiana threw them, Solomon flying before she could throw him, too. Sure, he could have used the cloth Yamraiha fixed but this was fine as well.

They landed in the water, making it splash around them in a big wave.

Solomon took Hakuryuu at the arm "Let's go and find their leader." He turned to the other two and yelled "You think you can do this without us?"

"Of course!" Alibaba responded "You go and find that woman!"

The two jumped into the base, backed by Morgiana and Alibaba who stopped the crew from coming after them.

"Is it really okay to leave those two by themselves?" Hakuryuu worried.

"Yeah." Solomon beamed "But you should know that yourself, how strong they are."

"That's true." He smiled "Let's find Madaura!"

The two continued running until they encountered two pairs of stairs.

Solomon pointed at one of them "We have to take this one."

"How do you know?"

"The rukh are going there and I don't think they'd do so without reason. The chances of Madaura being this way are higher."

Hakuryuu only nodded, there wasn't much to be said. They pushed open the door at the end of the stairs, coming to face Madaura.

"You've done well to come this far." The woman praised "Brave little lads." She chuckled, raising her right hand that had a blue jewel on it "I will make you my good little children, too!" Her nails started glowing and Morgiana and Alibaba arrived in the exact same moment, the magic affecting them as well "Magic Tool, Holy Mother Halo Fan!"

A bright line shone and a colourful halo with pictures resembling a mother and children appeared, fading away shortly after. One after one, Solomon's comrades collapsed.

He looked at them confused before glaring at the woman. Judging by the name of the tool and the age of the children and teens defending her, the tool might only work when the spell is cast before the person becomes an adult and independent from their parents.

Wicked. That's all he could call it.

This woman was manipulating their minds! His head and heart ached.

This situation was all too familiar. No way she was getting away with this! Doing nothing would be the same as helping! He refused to have any part in this aside from stopping her.

He would have never been part, leader even, of the Resistance, if he let behaviour like this slide!

He glared at her and turned to Alibaba, roughly shaking him and blocking the purple smoke "Hey! Snap out of it! Are you really okay with this, Alibaba? With how she is manipulating to you?"

As the smoke he inhaled became less, he started to snap out of it.

He looked at his friend surprised "Aladdin..."

"She's not your real mother." He told him sympathetically "And even if she was, you're old enough to live your life by thinking for yourself now!" He turned to Morgiana "You, too, Morg! Try to remember something important that you were given by someone…"

Slowly even Morgiana broke free and even as Madaura tried to stop them with red chains emerging from her tool, they broke free. Solomon looked at Hakuryuu who had not yet broken free. It came to a shock for even him when the young man attacked them instead of stopping Madaura from leaving.

Solomon's borg protected them from harm but now their own friend was in their way. It truly impressed him how much Hakuryuu could already use Zagan's power though. But this was hardly the time for praise.

He stood back, confident Alibaba could take care of this. And true to his believe, he did. They went to follow Madaura but the rest of the children blocked their way.

They got past them easily. When they reached the outside, Madaura and the part of the crew with her were captured by the Actian Navy.

* * *

It was frightening when the poor people started to throw rocks and advanced on Madaura and they moved to stop them but Hakuryuu ran past, grabbing the dagger of a participant and stood in front of the woman.

Solomon could tell from the weird behaviour of the rukh, Hakuryuu wasn't about to do something great and right he was. But he never expected the horrifying sight of him slashing her head off cleanly, right in front of the children who called her their mother and the townspeople.

Even with a spell on them, that must be traumatizing. A terrible sight for anyone to witness. He was no stranger to death. And she would have been killed anyway. And he certainly wasn't feeling bad for her.

But it was still cruel.

Alibaba was angry, his voice shaking but for once he couldn't really support his friend as much as he wanted "Why?" Alibaba questioned shaken "Why did you do a thing like that?"

"That was me executing the leader of the pirates." Hakuryuu explained "It was what the people wanted as well. And besides, wasn't our objective wiping out the pirates?"

"Even so..." Alibaba started but was cut off.

"Of course, it's also true that I was somewhat delirious from her spell. She looked just like my own mother to me." Now Solomon was _really_ interested.

"Like your mother?" The blond echoed "Then why…"

"That is the reason why." The prince said with closed eyes "I remembered, you see. That my mission is to kill Al-Thamen's witch…" _Arba?_ "Who defected to my uncle's side and seized control of the Kou empire… To kill my very own mother!"

That explained why he couldn't find out about her earlier. Members of Al-Thamen had black rukh and did not return to the flow, weren't even part of it anymore. If his guess was right… that woman he called mother might be Arba. At this point, he wouldn't put it past her.

"It was at that moment that I made up my mind." Hakuryuu continued and Solomon realized he missed a tiny part of the story "That I would be the one to protect my elder sister's life… and... And I also made a promise to myself. That no matter what, I would kill the witch of Al-Thamen… Ren Gyokuen!"

The three looked at him sadly. His reaction was understandable to the Alma Torran King now.

"She was quite similar to the Great Holy Mother, you know. Not caring the least about her own children. Such a woman shouldn't be allowed to live."

 _'Ah, hey, that sounded like David!'_

…

Definitely Arba. But he wondered how she could fall so low. Was absolutely nothing of his trusted friend left?

"Are you saying that's why you killed her?" Alibaba questioned.

"Either way, she was a criminal on her way to the scaffold, wasn't she?" He justified.

Alibaba took a step back in surprise but his eyes hardened again "That might be true. But what you did… weren't you just settling a personal score?"

Orba of Madaura's crew chose that moment to break free and attack the prince. He went to stab him but Hakuryuu caught it, hitting the teen away.

But Hakuryuu didn't take it too well. He verbally assaulted them with the truth they were starting to realize themselves. At that, Alibaba got angry again and grabbed him by the arm that was holding Orba's dagger.

Hakuryuu threw it away and left.

Since the commotion was after, the pirates were about to be escorted away when Alibaba stopped them.

* * *

Solomon knew that while he and Alibaba helped the children, Morgiana went off to find Hakuryuu. When the ship sailed away, Morgiana was behind them again. As Alibaba went to follow Hakuryuu to stop him, Morgiana held him back but she allowed Solomon to take off after him.

Solomon found him not too far from the gate on the path.

"Hakuryuu." He called from above, alerting the younger of his presence "Are you going to go off now?" He let himself fall on the earth "Alibaba was really disappointed. And besides, we can't say goodbye like this…"

"Aladdin..." Hakuryuu began confidently "I'm about to ignite a war that will split the Kou empire in two. When that happens, will you lend me your power?"

Solomon looked down "Well, I don't like wars. I know sometimes war is necessary but not always."

"King Sinbad has already told me that he'll join forces with me." He clarified "You're allies of Sindria, aren't you?"

"But..." He trailed off.

Hakuryuu smiled gently "I had a feeling this would be your reaction. You're different than King Sinbad. In what exactly, I'm not quite sure…"

"I want to help you because you're my friend…" Solomon admitted "And I'll help you if you're in trouble, but... I won't help you just to win a war. And I also learned once that wars out of revenge can only breed more sorrow." He smiled peacefully with closed eyes before directing a melancholy gaze at the orange sky "I would tell you to find a way to extinguish your vengeful soul but..." He chuckled and looked Hakuryuu into the eyes, expression not wavering "I fear that would make me a hypocrite."

"A hypocrity…?" The prince asked utterly lost.

Solomon nodded "I'm not in the exact same position as you but I fought against my father. I would have probably killed him, that was the plan." He shrugged "But he was faster than me. He committed suicide."

"And you're okay with that?" He asked shocked.

Now Solomon was confused "With what? Him killing himself or me not killing him?"

Unexpected silence greeted him and he guessed Hakuryuu didn't put that much thought into the question.

Solomon sighed deeply. He was sighing too much these days "Moving on. I want to give you a piece of advice."

"Advice?" He sounded distrustful.

"Yes, advice." Solomon repeated "It's about your mother." This caught the prince's attention "Don't be careless against her. After you described her, I got this feeling that she may be someone I once knew."

"How would you know my mother?" He whispered.

"Arba." He said "I have a feeling your mother is actually a woman called Arba." He inhaled sharply "Don't think you can win against her as you are now."

This angered Hakuryuu "What do _you_ know?!"

"More than you." Solomon glared " _Especially_ considering Al-Thamen!"

Hakuryuu yelled "Al-Thamen is from my country! You can't possib-"

"That's where you're wrong!" Solomon shouted back, tears starting to form in his eyes "Al-Thamen didn't start in Kou… But in Alma Torran…" The tears were streaming down his cheeks now as Hakuryuu was rendered speechless "I'm so sorry." He sobbed "I thought I sealed them away forever… I never thought they would manage to return… I'm so sorry..."

"Aladdin..." Hakuryuu quietly muttered.

"It's my fault, Hakuryuu…" He cried even harder "It's my fault! _I_ made a decision that angered them! _I_ did! If I had… if only I had… if only I hadn't done that… So many people would still be alive. Al-Thamen wouldn't even exist! I just... I just wanted the best for everyone…" He lamented "But I can't even do that right…"

Hakuryuu grabbed him by the shoulders "Did your decision itself hurt anyone physically?"

"No…" Solomon whispered.

"Did you do it to hurt someone?"

"No…"

"Did you do it for your sake alone?"

"No…"

"Did you tell Al-Thamen to make the fight physical?"

"No…"

"Whose sake was it for?"

"Everyone's…"

"Was it to help them?"

"Yes..."

"Did you expect them to fight against it?"

"No…"

"Did you do it for the people who joined Al-Thamen afterwards as well?"

"Yes..."

"Did you found Al-Tharmen?"

"No…"

"If you didn't do what you did back then, could you have helped them with the same results?"

"..."

" _Aladdin._ "

"No…"

"Why not?"

"We would still have been… trapped."

"Was there any other way to get free?"

"... … … No…"

Hakuryuu embraced him tightly "Then it's not your fault! None of it! You saved them and they repaid you so unfairly!"

"They lost a lot…" He whispered into the younger's shoulder, pain evident in his voice "They were sure they went from, from… from one prison to another!" He returned the embrace "But that's not the case. I... I made sure… I made sure they would be the masters of their own paths… I did! But they still got angry. The past can't be erased you know… We knew that above everyone else… We were all great sinners…" He hugged him even more "And now, this world? Al-Thamen's plan is to bring Il Illah back... This world.. I- I can't let that happen! If 'That' comes down upon us, i-if he touches the earth…" He tightened his grasp on him "Everything will cease to exist. His hands will rob everything he touches of the white rukh in their bodies and eleminate it. Humans and animals and plants... Even light and sound will perish… A place where nothing moves, nothing can be heard… A complete… world of death… Along with the black sun… it could come, to this very world."

Hakuryuu stared at the trees around them horrified. Except for Solomon's and his breathing, no sound was there. If what he was saying was true...

What Gyokuen, no, Arba, was doing… He can't let that happen. Hakuryuu bit his lip. Solomon was stronger than him, he knew that and if even he was in such a state… Hakuryuu was afraid.

How many knew about her plan? Probably nobody except them and the members of Al-Thamen. Did Judal know? He was one of them! But he didn't act like he wanted the world destroyed. He loved his games of starting war and creating chaos, sure… but hasn't he been acting strange? Ever since he came back from Balbadd? Could it be he didn't know about Al-Thamen's actual goal? Was he being used, just like princess Dunya?

Asking him would be too risky...

Hakuryuu tightened his grip. What could he do? And Solomon said he wouldn't be able to fight against her as he was. But what could they do then? What would be enough?

"How can I beat her, Aladdin...?" He murmured.

"Solomon."

"What?"

"My name is Solomon."

"What?"

Solomon chuckled weakly "My name isn't actually Aladdin but Solomon. Don't ever tell Arba that though." He joked, a few tears in his eyes "She'd kill us both."

"I won't." The prince assured and they both let go of each other "But why would Arba be my mother? I do believe you but it seems a bit strange."

"She's probably possessing her body." Solomon told him "Something like that _is_ possible. But I think hers is a bit more complicated than what one would think." He glanced at Hakuryuu's face and elaborated "I think her possession deals with lineage."

"Lineage?"

"She only uses half her spirit in a persons body, so her other half would be in another dimension. I found this out after a bit of research I did with Ugo after we went to Zagan. I found it weird that they escaped the dimension I sealed them in. If the 'doll body' is destroyed, she won't be able to come back. But it's not that easy."

"Why not?" Hakuryuu wondered "We would only need to find it."

"That's the problem." Solomon countered "It will be hard to find. I have another solution though." He smiled at his curious face "Remember the lineage thing? We just need to make sure she doesn't have anyone to possess."

Hakuryuu paled and shakily pointed at himself "Does that mean me and Hakuei have to die...?"

"No." The teen let his head fall as he sighed in relief "But we have to change your bodies."

"How? I can't possess someone and what about that person?"

"You think too complicated." Solomon deadpanned "I only need to change your body on a molecular level. Would it be okay if I used a bit of magic on you?"

Hakuryuu thought for a moment and looked up with a determined face "If it helps stop my mother, I will do it!"

"Good." Solomon nodded and stretched his hand out "Give me your hand."

Hakuryuu grasped it and a light began to shine, engulfing his entire body. Solomon released his hand again, smiling proudly.

"What was that?" Hakuryuu asked "Nothing happened."

"Wrong, your body is different." The King stated "I used an Alchemic magic on you, Al-Kimia Al-Quadima to be precise."

"Never heard of it." Hakuryuu admitted.

"Next to no one uses it or knows how to." He shrugged "Yunan, the wandering Magi uses it if I'm correct. But I think the Ancient Alchemy spell I just performed on you would even impress him. It uses a lot of commands."

"It can't be that bad…" He trailed off.

Solomon raised an eyebrow, amused "It uses around 1,022,000 commands. Ask any magician, or even Judal, to try and perform a spell with that many commands and tell me their reaction later."

Hakuryuu backed away a bit, for some reason, the others amused smile disturbed him a bit "O-okay..."

Solomon dropped his smile "But the problem with Arba's not gone yet. Your sister can still be possessed." Hakuryuu looked at him alarmed "I did meet your sister before, however, I had no idea that she had anything to do with Arba, so I didn't do anything. If I meet her, I will try to help her but I might need your assistance if she doesn't want to listen." Hakuryuu nodded stern "Also, your mother has been possessed by Arba for a long time but... we might be able to help her, too. She wasn't always her, you know."

"Are you sure that's for the best...?" Hakuryuu wondered dubious.

"I'm not telling you to suddenly start treating her like a real mother if we can save her, just that you won't judge her for Arba's actions." He replied "Your real mother loved her children, both of them and I'm sure she would have loved you and Hakuei just as much if she'd been allowed to."

"How do you know that?"

"The rukh do not lie." He answered "If you're not convinced, I'm sure I can show you with water magic. It doesn't have sound but don't actions speak louder than a thousand words?"

"No! No… it's fine." Hakuryuu quickly answered.

"Is that so? It's fine with me either way." Solomon said nonchalant.

"Can I ask something?" The prince clenched his fists on his lap.

He tilted his head "Of course. Ask away."

"If Al-Thamen's such a threat, why are you going to Magnostadt?"

"Oh, that." He was surprised "My main reason is unrelated to that. I heard they discriminate between magicians and normal people and that disturbs me on a personal level. The... _place_ I come from did the same long ago and it wasn't a good thing." He looked down sadly, remembering the past but then looked at Hakuryuu again, this time more serious "The other reason are the magic tools, like the ones the pirates used and the Dark Metal Vessels. They had Magnostadt's emblem on them. If they are helping Al-Thamen I need to know and why."

"Don't you think that's going to be dangerous?" Hakuryuu asked worried.

"It will be fine." The King swatted his worries aside "What bad can happen? And if I'm in too much trouble, I'll call Ugo for help!"

"Ugo?" Hakuryuu asked puzzled.

"I haven't introduced you yet?" Solomon asked wide-eyed.

"Ah, no."

"Haha, well, that's fine. I will introduce you another time, Ugo's bound to attract unwanted attention with his size."

"His size?" He asked sceptical "What is your friend?"

"I guess you could say he's a Djinn." Solomon spoke with a wide smile.

"Heh, a Djinn you say." Hakuryuu said amazed "That's ama-... A Djinn?!"

Solomon laughed at the others aghast expression "He's a great person."

"B-but..." He stood up in shock "To make a Djinn appear you'd need a tremendous amount of magoi! A normal magician doesn't have that much! Are you a Magi?!"

 _'Heavens, why.'_

"No, I'm not." He answered courtly.

"Then what are you- No scratch that, _Who_ and _What_ are you?!"

"Just Solomon." He smiled.

"Solomon Jehoahaz Abraham, King of Alma Torran and one of the two creators of this world."

* * *

 **Whoooo~**

 **This was _fun_ to write.**

 **Sorry for that one sudden slip in Point of View. Things are slowly starting to change and Solomon keeps opening up about the world. But only to his friends.**

 **I know he was really OOC at the last part, but I hope you can forgive me for that.**

 **I'm adding a little extra scene for fun in the end of the next chapter. I hope I can make it amusing enough^^**

 **Tell me what you think please!** **See you next time~!**


	4. Chapter 4

**King of all Kings:**

Hakuryuu stared at him for three antagonizing minutes while not moving a single muscle.

"What?" He looked so clueless. He pointed at Solomon "You're a King?"

Solomon was about to say something but paused. That's what impacted on him? "Am, was. It doesn't make a difference now, but yes, I'm a King."

"..." He directed his gaze downward "Al-Thamen destroyed your home…?"

"The aftermath did." He explained "We managed to drive them back and seal them into another dimension."

"But they managed to come back." Hakuryuu continued "And then we arrive at the current situation."

The King nodded "Correct."

Hakuryuu seemed to be in deep thought, he noted. He wondered if it was a bad idea to tell him but cast it aside. The more allies they had in the fight against Al-Thamen the better. Solomon supposed that his impromptu decision wasn't his worst decision yet.

He watched the younger cup his own chin and look to the side. It appeared he was still thinking about something.

Suddenly, the prince brightened and grinned at Solomon, almost like an excited child "I have an idea!"

* * *

Alibaba and Morgiana were waiting for him at the spot he left them at, asking him what took him so long. He smiled at them, saying that he got lost. Together, they went to eat something, discussing their travel plans.

"I don't know when I will make it back." Solomon admitted "There's a lot I want to find out about in Magnostadt and I don't think it will be too easy. That and I made a promise to a former friend some time ago, I intend to look if I can find anything useful there."

"But not too long!" Alibaba complained "Don't you dare never come back!"

"It's alright!" He smiled cheerfully "We will meet again for sure!"

"Let's make it a promise." Alibaba suggested happily and put his fist in the middle of the table, Morgiana and Solomon following suit.

"Yes!" They chorused and Alibaba joined in "We will definitely meet again!"

The rest of the night they partied, Solomon was pulled into the middle of the bar by one of the entertainers and Alibaba and Morgiana followed shortly and began dancing. All in all, it was a cheerful and bright night.

With that, the next morning came earlier than expected. They were at the docks, where the ships that would take Morgiana and Alibaba with them would arrive. Solomon bid the two farewell as he took out his linen to fly because it would be more comfortable. They waved at him with smiles on their faces as he flew away, him waving back.

He flashed a lonely smile as he realised how silent his trip would become now that they weren't with him. He'd gotten used to them being by his side, smiling, laughing, being cheerful. He'd miss them. But he knew it was fine, they'd surely meet again.

His thoughts wandered to the Academy. He wondered how living there would be?

Would it be as stuffy and boring and desolate as it was during his time in the Church? Would it be lively? Would the students like him? The only friends he had in the Church were Ugo and Arba. Would he meet people like that here, too?

A part of him hoped he wouldn't, after all, nothing would ever be able to replace those times. But he didn't want to be alone either.

He reminded himself that that didn't matter right now. He had a goal to fulfill, friendship had to come second. Coming out of his thoughts, he spotted a carriage and dully noted that it would be exhausting to fly the entire way.

He got off of his transport and went up to the driver, waving in greeting and sporting a polite smile "Good day, sir! I'm Aladdin, a traveler. I'm heading north and since that seems to be your direction as well, would you mind letting me ride in your carriage?"

"What's this?" The man said with an unpleasant face, moving his hand dismissive to show him he wasn't welcome "You shabby brat... Get lost! Sorry but I happen to cater only to a high-class clientele!"

 _'I hate saying it like this but I_ am _a King. Shouldn't that count as high-class?'_ Solomon held back a smirk and kept his mouth shut.

"As a matter of fact," The driver spoke up again, still unfriendly "I've got a very noble guest onboard right now. And for starters, do you even have money?"

 _'Of course that is what it comes down to.'_ He opened his bag and grabbed one of the smaller pouches that contained a part of his money. It wouldn't be good to loose it all in one go "Sure I have." He handed the money of the pouch to him "See."

The man gaped at the number of gold coins presented to him, clearly astonished. He grabbed the pouch and went to one of the carriage windows to ask the current passenger for permission to let him ride along with them.

When he got it, he lead Solomon to the back part carriage but warned him not to disturb the other passenger. He could live with that as it had nothing to do with him. There was no need to know the identity of the stranger. Who would it even be? Hakuryuu's cousin? Yeah, _big_ chance...

It did disturb him however that he could feel a Metal Vessel nearby.

It wasn't his business but it somewhat made him wonder who the other person was. And which Djinn did he hold? Who of his household chose this person and what kind of person was he or she?

The possibilities were endless. The presence of which of his friends was unknowingly comforting him in this loneliness?

 _'I really want to know...'_ He thought fondly and bit the inside of his cheek. He could find out more about the Metal Vessel users later. No looking into the rukh and no trying to find out.

He sighed and looked out the window, remembering what Yamraiha told him. She she said that the rukh's behaviour towards him could cause problems for him and gave him a magoi reverse tool. Two red stones that gleamed in his hands. He gazed at them in silence. It was impossible to sever his connection to the rukh. He put one into his arm and bandaged it up.

This way Yamraiha had nothing to complain about later and the rukh got the message to steer a bit clear of him for a while. It wouldn't keep them away from coming to him but it would show them they would be a nuisance.

He was thrown out of the carriage when it rocked violently. Swords were pointed at him and the ones protecting the carriage as he stood up. Bandits. How unpleasant. The mercenaries guarding them charged forward only to be nearly incarnated.

If someone asked, he certainly didn't use water magic to clog up the fire based magic tools. Not at all.

The amount of tools on the thieves sent him thinking again. Magic tools were expensive, so how come thieves like them had so many?

The mercenaries rode towards the back of the cart together with the driver and the thieves loomed before them.

They were shouting and about to move in for the kill when, all of a sudden, the roof of the carriage was sliced off.

The youth that sliced the roof glared down on them with merciless eyes, landing on top of the severed wall facing the bandits "Be quiet. You're totally killing the mood of my journey." He suddenly had an easygoing smile as he balanced the giant sword on his shoulder "Hey, old guys!" He addressed the bandits "Does this mean you're all okay with the death penalty?"

He jumped down and crouched in a fighting position in front of the driver and Solomon for a second before leaping straight into the enemy forces. And oh, it just took that one brief moment that he was in front of them for him to notice the familiar eight-pointed star on the youth's weapon.

This was the user he was wondering about earlier. He watched silent and a little alarmed as he sliced his enemies apart without hesitation, a look of utter glee on his face while he was at it.

And it sacred him a little.

As the sword grew in size he also realized that the Djinn must be a user of strength magic. He questioned just _who_ this man was "Hey, who is that man?" He asked the driver who was horrified at the damage the youth could install.

"Not that it would mean much to the likes of you," He replied agitated "but he's a prince of the Kou Empire... Master Ren Kouha."

So he _was_ a cousin of Hakuryuu. Just great. How many more members of the royal family of the Kou would he need to meet until they stopped popping up all around him?

It had been a few hours since the attack and Kouha had let Solomon into the inner part of the carriage that he wasn't allowed in earlier. It only took the prince a few minutes to grow interested in his silent traveling companion.

"So who are you?" He questioned curious.

Solomon noticed at this that he was very different when he wasn't fighting. He looked rather normal now, without his sword in hand.

"He's been with us for a while now. You allowed him in earlier" One of his three female companions, the one with wards on her face, answered before he could.

"Oh?" Kouha voiced, obviously remembering that "What's your name?"

"I'm Aladdin, a traveler." He said politely "Say, I overheard you were going to Magnostadt. I'm also on my way there."

"Really? You?" The prince looked rather... disbelieving "But that country doesn't allow anyone in who isn't a magician aside from special exceptions like myself. Aren't you a Capturer?"

Solomon looked at his flute and grasped it "Not really. This isn't the same kind of Metal Vessel as yours. I'm a magician, actually." He removed his staff from his back and held it out for the prince "See?"

The youth snatched it and examined it curiously "I've never seen a staff like this." He grinned and laughed "It looks kind of like a scepter! Where did you get this? Was it specially made?"

"Kind of." Solomon answered "It was from a very important… person and then given from one wielder to another."

"So it's really old then? That's amazing!" He smiled widely at Solomon "You should visit Kou sometime! I will introduce you to my older brother and you should show him your staff! He's really interested in history and this thing seems really old!"

"Thanks…?" He replied unsure "I would love to take you up on the offer but I fear I will be staying in Magnostadt for a while."

He didn't really want to 'visit' Kou. He would go there, yes, but only for Al-Thamen.

"That's a bummer…" Kouha complained slightly "I will tell my men to keep an eye out for you though. Besides..." He smiled again, but not as wide as before "You're 'that' Aladdin, right? The one that helped Hakuei. You perfectly match the description Seisyun gave us."

That surprised Solomon "Her household member gave it to you?"

"Yep. And you just confirmed my suspicion. How else would you know he's a household member?" He chuckled "But to answer your question, yes, he gave it to us. My cousin seemed to have mixed the description up somehow."

He wondered how she would have managed to do that.

The uncomfortable silence that followed was only broken by the driver telling them that it would take nine more days for them to arrive which resulted in Kouha lamenting.

It amused him a bit, how childish this prince seemed compared to before.

The next days were filled with them talking, apparently the prince forgot about the conversation they had earlier about Hakuei. At one time, Solomon let the prince braid his hair, simply because he wouldn't shut up about it.

They would play chess, too and braid his hair some more. All in all, Solomon would call them some kind of friends. A bit.

The King was relieved as he could undo the numerous braids the prince made when they arrived. He wasn't a girl, damnit!

He regarded the giant walls in front of them with interest, there was no way to see what was beyond them "So where's Magnostadt Academy?"

"This is just the checkpoint." Kouha explained, pointing at the guards "The academy city is still ways off." He then pointed to one of the gates "You've got to get through the entry check over there." He started walking away and waved with a soft smile "Well, goodbye, Aladdin. I've got someone here to meet me. Do your best!"

"Okay!" He replied. He would do his best.

He looked at his bandaged arm. It wouldn't be much but the rukh would know what not to do. With that in mind, he joined into line and waited for his turn.

It amused him a bit that a borg was needed to enter, he supposed it was smart though as it was proof you're a magician. A borg is the defence of many because of their usually frail bodies.

The guard with the hammer was even taller than him and the magician beside him asked for Solomon's name and where he came from. He was on 'official' or 'unofficial' orders from Sindria, which could be debated upon, so that's what he answered.

If this country had a connection to Al-Thamen? Yeah, saying 'I'm from Alma Torran, a place you never even heard of but that's fine.' was not a good idea.

The hammer was swung down on him and he grew anxious just for a moment as a few rukh tried to get close. He exhaled relieved after passing the wall, glad that nothing happened, putting his staff back on his back.

* * *

"1st Kodor!" The examiner shouted surprised.

Solomon smiled proudly, with or without rukh, he was one of Alma Torran's best magicians! If he did any less on this exam, he would have to be ashamed!

Many of the students regarded with him with sparkling eyes as he got his schedule. Was it that rare to get 1st on this exam? He was sure he heard a examiner shout it before… once or twice… maybe…

One particular student stood out to him. With the white hair and tan skin he reminded him a bit of Sharrkan.

He followed the man in charge of his group as he led them further inside on a giant carpet. As they reached the outside of the tunnel even he was amazed.

Magicians were flying everywhere! Magic.. magic… magic. It was everywhere the eye went. Nothing but magic! Magic tools were everywhere as well. He only half listened as the man in charge explained that they were members of this years vaunted third annual class of transfer students and had a free day before the next day's Maref's.

Solomon looked at his schedule excited as he searched his room. He already found it not long after entering. A snake sprang in front of his face as soon he went inside.

His roommate who was already there looked at him and the snake went up to his side "Huh?"

"Oh, you're that boy from before." Solomon remarked. Who knew that this would be his roommate? "I see that we're roommates." He went up to the youth whose eyes went as wide and offered his hand "My name is Aladdin!"

"You're the one that made it into first Kodor first try!" He sounded amazed, not taking Solomon's hand.

Solomon peered at the others paper "So you're name is Sphintus Carmen. Nice to meet you!" He offered his hand again.

Sphintus pulled his sheet away from Solomon "Don't look at my stuff!" He looked at Solomon's still outstretched hand and sighed, taking it "Nice to meet you."

Solomon smiled brightly "Let's get along!"

* * *

A few days later, Solomon was rather bored. He hadn't found anything out yet and the only thing taught in class were the theories he already knew by heart. The only thing that had to do with practicing magic was finding out where their aptitude was. His was, unsurprisingly, strength.

Like seriously, it didn't take a magic tool to figure that out. But he also had to hand it to them, he had one unfair advantage. Being able to manipulate the laws of physics like he did…

He was lying face down on his bed, boredom making him slowly tired.

"Hey, Aladdin." His roommate called.

"Huh?" Came the tired reply. What could he want at this hour?

"Where are you from?"

He nearly felt his heart stop. That surprised him a little _too_ much.

Sphintus sat up slowly, resting his right elbow on his knee "Since I'm bored, I might as well listen to what you have to say. Don't you have some kind of sob story that'll make us both shed some tears?"

Solomon turned around so he wasn't face down anymore. He did, he did have a sob story. A big one, too. But it was nothing that concerned Sphintus.

"What about you?" He chose to ask instead "You're from Heliohapt, right? Why are you here?"

"Why should I tell you anything about me?" the other questioned.

"Okay then." Solomon replied and lied on his side "I don't need you to tell me anything."

He could just ask the rukh, easy.

By the time Sphintus relented on his own and started to speak, he'd already fallen asleep.

The next night, Sphintus attempted to talk to Solomon again. This time he didn't ask anything about his origin though and Solomon found that he was actually a great person to talk to.

"A lot of people from the 6th Kodor are dropping out, aren't they?" He wondered aloud that night.

"Yeah, I heard that, too." Solomon admitted "Hey, Sphintus. You're a really grounded person, aren't you?"

Sphintus turned his head away and smiled "I see that you're finally starting to appreciate my awesomeness!"

Solomon grinned "I thought you were doing this as a hobby but you really are serious about being a magician…"

"What did you say?" The younger half-shouted upset.

* * *

Two month passed before he was really aware of it. He was excited to see the 6th Kodor's at the Iktiyar. He saw a lot drop out but was sure the remaining ones could do it. The rukh around them seemed better and stronger than before.

True to his expectations, the remaining students passed.

It relieved him a bit for some reason. Maybe because it meant less people being disappointed.

It was half a year later, after going a separate way than Hakuryuu, that he saw Kouha exit the main gate of the academy after one of his classes.

"Hey Kouha!" He called out and jumped down the railing "It's been awhile."

"True." The prince replied.

Solomon noted that despite the small smile, he didn't really seem happy, more… sad? No, something else.

"Listen, I'm sorry." Kouha continued "I've got to head back to my country. It's been ages and I'd love to hang out with you, but my country's kind of in an uproar, see."

He left with a small wave and Solomon just watched him go, wondering what Hakuryuu and Hakuei would do now. With a country like Kou that was steadily expanding, to suddenly lose its emperor, what would happen now? Most likely a war.

It would also put a dent into their plan.

The thread was tightening around them but also their enemy. He just hoped Hakuryuu would succeed in his part and not do anything stupid.

* * *

With the death of the emperor, the princes and princesses gathered in the capital, one after another. Hakuryuu arrived on the monsters he summoned with Zagan's help and joined his sister.

He really hoped he could do what Solomon asked of him. Resisting the urge to grasp the Eye of Rukh he was given for reassurance, he also knelt like everyone else when Kouen arrived.

The first prince stopped beside him for a moment and put his hand on his shoulder "You conquered a dungeon, I heard. Well done." Then he kept walking.

It wasn't until later in the evening when the sun was nearly gone that Kouen requested a meeting with him and Hakuei. Kouen told them about how there should be one king, one king for everyone.

Hakuryuu barely resisted twitching when the first prince wondered who Solomon was. He kept talking about the past that the Toran writings described and noticed just how _similar_ they were to what Solomon told him.

His guess that the world this took place in was cut off from their own was spot on as well.

What surprised him even more than the similarities was Kouen's theory. But he himself wondered if a single king was the best. It wasn't his place to decide that nor was it the time.

Their emperor was dead, he supposed he had to go to the funeral before anything else. With that in mind the three of them, with Kougyoku who joined them during their conversation, headed towards the rest of their siblings a day later.

Sitting beside her dead husband was his mother. To say he hated her was an understatement but now that he knew about Arba he hated her even more. Solomon told him a lot about his former friend and the more he thought about it, the more similarities he saw. Her behaviour, her looks and everything else.

And the priests around them were Al-Thamen's no matter how he looked at it. And Arba _was_ their original leader. Why would it be the wife of some emperor now?

And that brought a never before felt fury onto him as he heard that she was the new emperor and that the 'Imperial Priests' were to help her.

The retainers of his siblings were furious as well, as they should be. What madness even was this? Kou wasn't this woman's playground!

He had to calm down. If a conflict broke out now it would only lead to more trouble. At the same however, he hated himself for what he did next.

He couldn't believe the words that left his mouth, smooth as butter with no obstacle whatsoever. His cousins and Hakuei were shocked. He could understand them, he was too.

Only shortly after the ceremony, he was stopped on his way by Hakuei who ran after him.

"Hakuryuu! Come back here! Why did you say such a thing?"

He wanted to tell her, he really did but this was Kou. Al-Thamen was nearly everywhere "There was a choice between a split in the palace or a crack in the bond between Kouen and that woman. What would be worse for Kou right now?"

He knew there were holes in that. He knew but he had to try.

That and...

 _If_ there had been a split in the palace, the natural outcome would have been Kouen's victory but he knew _nothing_. Nobody knew _anything_.

Whatever tricks that woman had up her sleeve might have ended the lives of his cousins. Or worse, driven her out of his mothers body and into Hakuei's. And he didn't believe he could live knowing he'd let that happen. Never.

"I-" She looked at the ground, shocked and lost "I-"

"There would have been a fight immediately, sister." He informed her "But this way, there might be a way to end this without too much bloodshed." Because some people _had_ to be erased "And a great internal conflict would shake the citizens as well. Don't you agree that this was the best solution for the moment?"

"I-" She sighed, sadly "Maybe you're right but... I don't know if I can completely agree with you…"

"That's fine!" He smiled, albeit a bit strained "We're different people with different views, that's normal."

He left for the courtyard, unaware of the two pairs of eyes watching him.

Chuu'un and Seishuu pressed against the wall of the building, hiding, as Hakuei entered it again from the walkway. The glanced at each other. Something was up.

* * *

It was two days after Hakuryuu's and Hakuei's talk that the finals for the 3rd annual class of the transfer students began.

Stepping into the centre Solomon went through his plan again as he made sure that the safety barrier of the teachers was still strong enough to take it. Because if it wasn't, he'd only be able to do half of what he'd planned. Luckily they were just barely sturdy enough.

He lifted his staff as he internally apologized to them "Sharrar Sarab!"

A giant reflection of the school built up, already impressing every teacher and student when he grinned.

"Sarg Sargeyya!"

Awed and terrified, the audience watched as the dragon heads tore through the fusion of his own heat and water magic, showing off just how easily his former magic was forcefully torn apart.

That was the point of his performance. Not the elaborate fusion of heat and water but the one of wind and ice.

Ice was a sub-type of water. The eight main types were in a circle, four connected each. Four that worked well with each other, if one of them was the magicians main magic. Of course the others could be used, too.

But he thought heat and water was too easy and ice as a sub-type was even harder to use for someone who wasn't using only his main types.

But that was up to debate since he wasn't a red magician either.

In the late evening, most students and teachers of their year stayed up late to celebrate, some even lifting and throwing their teachers into the air. Like the female teacher of the 6th Kodor.

Solomon himself didn't really need it but it would be suspicious if a student knew everything from the get-go, so he'd asked her a few things every now and then. Not as much as his actual teacher but since every single one had different teaching methods he went to them all.

At least the ones from his year. He didn't know the teachers of the other years, much less the leaders of the academy. That included Matal Mogamett.

He truly wondered what kind of man he was.

"Who knew that you'd be named top student?" Sphintus said teasing as he as he fed his snake.

"We don't know that yet." Solomon smiled happily "But I'm glad you made it to the first Kodor yourself, Sphintus."

"Just barely, yeah." He replied less enthusiastic.

"Listen up!" They could hear Miss Meiers shout as she addressed them all after collecting the two of them, her whip stretched between her hands "You scrubs really gave it your all. Out of the 123 students of the third crop of transfers, you twenty were the only ones to survive. But as you all know, 2nd Kodors and under will have to repeat their grade. Of all your classmates, the following two 1st Kodors will be promoted to the second year!"

She pointed her whip to her left where Sphintus and Solomon stood, one with a rather content, the other with a happy expression.

"Aladdin of Sindria…" Meiers announced "...and Sphintus of Heliohapt!"

Two of the third, formerly sixth, Kodor ran up to them, congratulating them and wishing them luck.

Sai Lin handed him a bouquet of flowers as a sign of Sphintus' and his accomplishments "Good luck to both of you! Do it for us!"

"Sure!" He agreed brightly.

"Especially you, Aladdin." Meiers commented happily smiling as the other teachers were also smiling behind her "There's no doubt in my mind that you'll be named top student. You're the pride of our term!"

"Yes, ma'am!" He nodded "Thanks, everybody!"

He smiled widely as he felt a sudden pain constrict his chest, a lone rukh setteling on his shoulder. He wanted to whisper 'I'm alright' but there was no need to worry the others, so he kept smiling.

His mind wandered to his friends. He wondered when he'd see them again.

* * *

Every student of the academy assembled for the announcements of each years top students. He looked around curiously, there were a lot of students.

"All right." One of the five magicians at the desk on top of the stairs called for their attention. He had a scroll in his hand that Solomon decided was too large for just a few names "I will now reveal the name of the top students representing each grade. This year, of the first years, graduating at the top of class are, for the first time, two students." This already sent surprise through the crowd as Solomon's friends looked at him with smiles "12th term, Titus Alexius and 3rd term Aladdin! You both, come up to the dais."

It took Sphintus nudging him from behind to realize that yes, he was Aladdin. He hurriedly stood up and joined the blonde in his walk towards the dais. He warily eyed the rukh swarming their way, this wasn't his doing however. Mister was hiding something.

Should he look into it, should he not?

Maybe later that day. But one thing was clear, this man was either a Magi or the clone of one. He was leaning heavily against the latter.

* * *

"Hey Sphintus, now that we're second years, we're moving to different rooms, right?" Solomon questioned.

"Yeah, it would be cool if we could be roomies again." The youth commented as his snake looked at Solomon's paper.

"Eeeeh? Really?" Solomon asked bored, although a bit childish in meaning.

"What?" Sphintus exclaimed shocked and Solomon laughed.

"I'm just kidding." He waved it off and held his paper in front of the two of them "And how about this? The thirty first Kodors who have been promoted to the second year will be granted Magnostadt's 2nd level of Citizenship status."

He could tell this was already going great. Level of Citizenship, really? _Really?_

He was reluctant to know how many levels there were.

"Never heard of something like that." Sphintus admitted "Wonder what that's all about?"

Solomon exhaled softly in thought as he came to a stop, barely avoiding a crash. He looked up and tapped the young man's shoulder.

"What's going on?" There were a lot of students gathered.

"Oh!" The youth exclaimed as he turned around "You're Aladdin of the third term and... the other guy." He added the last part a bit apologetic.

"You can call me Mister Sphintus!" The white haired youth replied a bit snarky.

"Hey, listen." The blonde on the unknown students side chimed in and pointed towards the source of the commotion "Could you do something about this?"

Solomon looked where she was pointing and took a few steps forward. He could see two red-heads harassing two other students, the blonde from the ceremony watching quietly.

Ah, he already disliked him.

"See how tyrannical Titus' hangers-on are?" The blonde from before told him.

 _'You don't even know what tyrannical is.'_ Solomon thought bitterly. But she had a point, it might as well be that. Either way, this had to stop.

"Hangers-on?" He opted that a bit more information couldn't hurt.

The youth from before elaborated "The two 12th term second years besides Titus are now firmly under his control."

Control. It could be such an ugly word sometimes.

Titus turned to them, Solomon in general and started to walk towards them, his two henchmen followed him.

"Hey, here comes the little prince himself!" Sphintus spat quietly.

"Little prince?" Now he was curious. Rotten royalty?

"The Alexius family runs the Leam empire's senate." He whispered him into the ear "They are like the mother of all distinguished families. Just watch." He gestured to the other students and Solomon had to note how discouraged they seemed and tried to avoid eye-contact "No one can defy him… That's because he's from Leam's ruling class. That pisses me off!"

Solomon made a mental connection at that and smiled slightly "I see. You did say you came from an impoverished noble family!"

That definitely pissed the good man off "Shut up!"

A hand grabbed Sphintus' shoulder and threw him backwards as he barely caught himself. Solomon lips curled downward as the blonde smiled softly.

"Aladdin, I'm going to make you a friend of mine." He offered his hand with an absolutely self-satisfied smile "It's amazing that there was another talented magician besides me. Even if the other students had absolutely nothing to recommend them."

Solomon glanced at the others as Sphintus angrily pointed at Titus in silence while the others didn't move.

Titus hand was still there as he kept smiling "You and I are special. Why don't we be friends?"

The two behind him clapped in glee "Ah, excellent! This is the moment that this year's two top students establish their friendship!"

Solomon raised his right hand as Sphintus gaped in utter shock but to everyone's surprise he grabbed Titus arm directly under his wrist and _squeezed._

"Listen here." Solomon answered with a smile and icy cold, damning glare all the while increasing the force on his grip "Pushing other people, my _friends,_ around, acting all high and mighty, belittling people you don't even know…" He smiled sweetly and let his voice become slightly hushed "You truly are a really, really, terribly disgusting organism. If you ask me, you are the one who has nothing to recommend you aside from your horrible personality."

The utter mortification and rage on the boy's face was hilarious. Maybe he was a bit harsh but this kid needed a lesson, maybe even more so than Sheba did in the past.

He let got of him, mentally apologizing for the bruise that _might_ form later on.

The Alexius was twitching angrily before a dark, murderous aura engulfed him "You… are… dead!"

He was, wasn't he? Technically... not counting the fact that he was alive and breathing, again, somehow.

"You vulgar plebeian, I'm going to humiliate you!" He grabbed Solomon by the collar and shook him as his friend kept making fun of him. When he let go he grabbed his weapon staff and pointed it at him "Feel the humiliation! I'll make you pay for insulting me of all people!"

A voice cut through the tumult of anger in an instant "You there, what are you fighting about?"

All students gasped and went to kneel, Solomon following suit to avoid trouble. He looked up slightly, so this man was the Chancellor. Said man came to a stop before the three of them and the woman, Irene, stepped forward, holding up another of those too long scrolls.

"Aladdin and Titus Alexius. You are both hereby ordered to take part in a battle exam tomorrow." Seeing the question in both their eyes she explained "From the second year, the instructors select only the best students to teach… That is what this battle exam is for." She closed the scroll "In other words, the losing student is not chosen and cannot learn anything. If you wish to grasp the truth about magic, show us your power! In a... battle!"

* * *

 **Aaaaaaaand back again!**

 **Miss me yet? No? That's fine^^**

 **So what do you think about this chapter? Be sure to tell me!**


	5. Chapter 5

**King of all Kings:**

Solomon held his staff outstretched in front of him, his opponent doing the same. He couldn't afford to leave the school. If something was going on here, he'd have to find out first-hand. He couldn't see into the black rukh, he had to do this himself and because of that he couldn't be expelled now.

He had no doubt he could finish Titus off but he should proceed with caution. If he used magic too extraordinary he would fall under suspicion, so he couldn't use his special strength magic or Ancient Alchemy.

Just great.

"Until you receive the signal to stop, you cannot leave the area inside this barrier." Irene announced loudly "Both of you, exert your full power. Do you understand?"

 _'Yes, but that_ might _create problems.'_

They let their powers flare, electricity winding around Titus staff and fire around his own. He had to win.

"Begin!"

Both started running and met at the centre, their magic colliding. Immediately they jumped apart, only to start flying upwards while circling each other.

Solomon swung his staff sideways "Flash!"

"Sharrar!" The attack was blocked by the steam Titus summoned.

He had to try another "Ramz!"

"Asfal!"

Solomon stopped flying and kept in place "Halharl Infigar!"

Despite the magoi he put into his attack, he could feel Titus managed to block it. He must have used ice then, a smart choice.

And indeed, the other had used ice.

"Is that all you can do?" He mocked unharmed.

"Not at all." Solomon replied softly as he landed, placing his staff in front of him and smirked as the ground before Titus was torn apart, releasing a vast amount of water "Halharl Raqi!"

For a few seconds, nothing could be seen due to the explosion and Solomon used Sharrar Magd to disguise himself and flew towards the dust as it cleared, showing that the magician somehow evaded the giant blast.

He went behind him and pointed at Titus, releasing Sharrar Magd and making himself visible again "Ramz Al-Salos!"

Titus stood still for a moment as the lightning broke his borg and coursed through him but then turned around abruptly "Destruction!"

Solomon barely avoided the blast and had to keep moving to avoid the ones following until he was at the side of the barrier. He then sent Titus' attacks back at him with tunnels of strong wind.

"Don't think you can beat me!" Titus shouted when the attacks stopped "I've never lost a magic showdown, not even once!"

 _'Not like you're the only one.'_

Solomon activated Hadika Hadeka and charged at him, destroying Titus borg after only a few tries.

"Why are you relying on material arts if you're a magician?" The blonde complained before gritting his teeth and running in his direction "Damnit! Halharl…"

"I won't let you!" Solomon proclaimed and jumped forward as well, his staff still under the effect of the combo move.

Solomon sliced Titus sleeve apart and changed his spell to avoid injury on his arm "Ramz!"

He was really glad he only used one of the stones Yamraiha gave him. If he did have one bandaged up in his right arm, it would be discovered now.

He could now clearly see the red communication stone in Titus' arm, as expected of the clone of a Magi. He was probably here to find information for Leam but even Magi's couldn't straight up communicate to another persons mind it seems.

They jumped apart again and Solomon gave Titus time to pull his sleeve down. They clashed again with lightning and fire magic, the output much weaker than before. It only took a few seconds for them to separate anew.

They were called to a stop as the tried to attack each other again and the chancellor went up to them, placing a hand on each of their shoulders "This match ends in a draw. I can see what your abilities are. Titus is capable of unleashing brilliant composite magic spells. He's like a magician armed with one hundred or two hundred years of experience… On the other hand, Aladdin is adept at using multiple kinds of magic and combining them and is superior at making quick judgements and counters. Not to mention, he seems used to fight with his magic. I shall recommend you directly to several seminars myself."

He picked up his staff as the audience cheered loudly in amazement. As the head of the academy left, Titus turned to leave, too.

"Wait!" Solomon grabbed his arm "Titus! What is your goal? Why are you here? I'd like to talk with you a bit."

Maybe they could work together, it would make things easier. Titus paused for a moment before turning and offering his hand.

Solomon took it and internally sighed _'He's gonna attack me, isn't he.'_

"I'm sorry." Titus muttered as his weapon flared up, the Destruction spell forming "With you around, I can't complete my mission!"

 _'And I remain correct.'_ He thought bitterly as he altered the laws of physics to keep the spell away from him.

Miss Meiers ran towards them as Chancellor Mogamett used magic to force Titus wand out of his hand. Both were thrown back by the impact of the explosion that Titus spell caused.

Solomon sat up, a bit groggy with a hand to the side of his head, as he heard Sphintus shout his name. He had to admit, the impact on the ground hurt. Why did the Chancellor interfere, he was perfectly fine. Now if only he hadn't been restricting his Strength magic so much he might have been able to catch himself.

He removed his hand and put it in front of his face, luckily he didn't seem injured. But now he had a major headache. He could see Miss Meiers rush to his side and she steadied him as she helped him stand up.

It wasn't that difficult to begin with but it helped. He felt a hand touch his shoulder and met the worried eyes of Sphintus and the two students from the day before. They kept him company as they walked to the infirmary to check his head. In his opinion, he didn't need that.

He'd already healed himself but the teachers insisted so he couldn't exactly argue. He was quickly dismissed but given bed rest. _That_ was the worst of all. He understood the need for caution and rest but he was fine!

Perfectly fine even!

Sighing, he went to his room and into the bed. He curled up in the sheets while lying on his left. He wasn't okay with this. Why were they acting like he was some child? He might be a student but by far not a child.

"That expression doesn't suit you." Sphintus commented after he closed the door and sat on his bed-site "The healers are just looking out for you. There are types of damages that magic can't heal."

"I know that…" The King admitted "But this is ridiculous. I'm perfectly fine, they even said so!"

"Just get some sleep." The other told him as he stood up "Then they won't be able complain anymore and you can get up."

* * *

Was someone calling out to him?

He was sure he could hear someone.

The voice sounded familiar… Amon? No, that can't be right.

He could hear cheering, too but who would cheer for him? He wasn't a good King.

Was he even a good _person_?

"Right now, the world stands poised on the brink of unity."

He swore he knew that voice-

"It is your greatest feat yet!"

"There is no one else who even tried to realize it. Such an extraordinary dream."

He knew that voice as well, but this one he could never mistake.

"Multiple nations, religions and tribes… For them to mutually forgive the past, learn to understand each other and leave their fates in the hands of a single great vessel- you yourself."

That wasn't true, he wasn't great. They made a mistake, placing their fates in his hands.

 _He was a failure._

What kind of King can't protect his people, _brings forth their demise even?_

Not the good kind.

He made a mistake, he made _many_ mistakes.

And then, the magicians defied him. Defied him mightily, until the last bitter breath.

* * *

He woke up with a jolt, sitting up in a flash and scaring the other person in the room who fell off his chair. He sat down again and looked at the ground disheartened.

What was Titus doing here at this hour. Judging by the faint glow of the moon and darkness it was night and pretty late as well. Wasn't he supposed to be in confinement, too? Wouldn't he get in trouble if he was found out?

"Your injuries…" The blonde started but trailed off "I'm truly sorry about all this."

"No need to worry." Solomon smiled "I'm fine, only needed some rest according to the healers."

"I see." He still had that downtrodden look "You said you wanted to talk about something before?"

"Ah, yes." The King stated surprised "You're a spy of the Leam empire aren't you?"

The other looked at him in caution "Could you… keep that secret?"

"Of course." He replied "I have nothing to gain by ratting you out. Besides, I'm here to search for something, too. Just not on anyone's behalf. So don't tell on me either, okay?"

"I won't." Titus agreed.

"That's good to hear." He stopped smiling briefly "I know what you are, Titus. But you shouldn't worry too much. There might not be someone like you out there but there are people in the same position as you- being something nobody else in this world is. You're not alone." He stood up and offered the younger his hand "If you want, I will be your friend, no matter what."

At first, the blonde only looked at him unmoving then he took his hand "Thanks, Aladdin."

* * *

Some minutes after Titus left, he could see a faint light from the bag he packed his belongings in. He took out the eye of the rukh as it connected.

"Sir Solomon." Was the immediate response.

"Drop the sir, please." Solomon demanded.

"Did something happen?" Hakuryuu wondered curious.

The King scratched his neck, thinking deeply "Became a Top Student, got into a conflict, was forced into a battle exam, was attempted to be killed by my opponent afterwards, got a headache and made up with the guy who tried to murder me."

"Are you… okay?"

"Yes." Solomon replied "What about you? Surely you're not calling at whatever unheavenly hour it is for no reason."

Hakuryuu laughed nervously "It's a bit after midnight, actually, so not that late." He was met by Solomons's unimpressed stare "A-anyway, a lot happened in Kou. I'm sure you heard all about the emperor's death quite a while ago, right?"

"Yes. It's why your cousin left the academy." He paused for a moment "I also heard Arba became the next emperor?"

"That's true… I might have helped…" Hakuryuu admitted and added fast "It was the best option at the time!"

"I understand that. I don't think you'd do something like that without thinking."

Hakuryuu smiled slightly "Thank you. I also looked a bit into what you asked me to. It was a bit though because there aren't many records on the family history but as you suspected, the name of my first known ancestor was illegible. And it dates back to around 1000 years. It's like that in all documents I could find."

"It's a good chance that this is Arba. The line had to start somewhere." Solomon concluded.

* * *

Koumei was in the library after he heard that Hakuryuu had gone there after he had inquired about old documents concerning the family history. He was unsure why his younger cousin would want to look into this but his overall behaviour had been strange lately so it should be worth checking out.

Because of this he and his household member Chuu'un were searching the library for him but when they left he truly wondered what he had heard.

Who was Arba? And what did she have to do with Gyokuen?

* * *

Solomon and Sphintus stood before the gate to the second level authorization district.

"Hey there!" Titus startled him with his sudden appearance and Sphintus openly gaped "Thanks for waiting, Aladdin. All right, let's go!"

No, he didn't exactly wait for him.

"Why are you tagging along?" Sphintus complained.

"Starting today, Aladdin and I will be carrying out our crucial missions while helping each other out." He explained while opening the gate.

The Heliohapt native looked at Solomon "Crucial missions?"

They were interrupted by magic transporting them outside. As they reached the end of the tunnel, they were greeted by a marvelous city.

"Look, Aladdin!" Sphintus diverted his attention "I see a magic tool!"

"You're right." He commented as he draw closer via flight, the other two following "They're using it to distribute water everywhere."

And he had a good guess where the magoi for that came from.

"Look, Aladdin!" Titus was now the one pointing something out "I see a field!"

"What's that?" Sphintus wondered as he saw it.

The light of purple rukh, life magic then. They're using it to raise crops.

The three went to eat something and Sphintus explained the citizenship level to him since he missed the lecture. As they walked out of the shop he also told Solomon how the people were classified.

It unnerved Solomon, it was not _as_ bad as what happened with the Church but he knew there was more. Definitely, if the vast amount of rukh underground had any meaning. Luckily it wasn't black rukh but it didn't feel good either way.

He had to find out more about the levels "Hey, Titus!" He stopped as he realized the blonde wasn't with them anymore.

"Oh... look at that, Aladdin!" He called out excited, his eyes sparkling as he looked at them "It's a cat! There's a cat over here!"

"But that's not unusual, really." Sphintus said disinterested "Jeez, you're a simple-minded jerk. Don't go around gaping in awe over a stupid cat!"

It wasn't too long after that Solomon wanted to say the exact same to Sphintus. He was a little too excited about the good treatment magicians received from others.

Solomon was sceptical. They were fawning over magicians too much. Like their life depended on it, maybe that was even why. After a small stop they made for Titus to see a child, they only had the fourth and fifth district to see.

Solomon went up to two civilians and asked them about fifth district but he was shocked at their answer. So the people under the earth could be the ones from that district, it only made sense. But there were more than half of the population under there!

This still haunted him in the evening as he went over the authorization information with Sphintus. He asked Miss Irene who passed by to confirm the whereabouts but it seemed he had to take some 'Ideology classes' for that. That only served to bother him further.

* * *

He was rudely awaked by Titus shaking him violently.

"What is it?" The King asked as he sat up.

"We're going to the 5th Level Authorization District!" The other said excited.

"What?" Solomon asked incredulously "Now?" Did he know how late it was?

"That's right!" He confirmed "Oh, just one thing- I still don't know where the 5th Level Authorization District is. So... Let's infiltrate the 1st Level Authorization District and try to find out!"

"No need." Solomon yawned "Give me a minute to wake up and I'll find us a way there. I already made out that it's underground."

After the additional minute and waking up Sphintus, courtesy by Titus, they flew across the tunnel to the last district.

Sphintus was dubious "But I still can't believe it. You say it's two third of the population, isolating that huge chunk of the population… And to think that they're all living in this part of the city!"

"I'll know it when I see it..." Titus commented "With these eyes, that is! We're going through!" As they made it through, he couldn't believe it "They really…"

"...went and built a damn city underground…" Sphintus finished.

"Let's head into town." Titus commanded.

Together they went further. Titus suggested to use light magic but Solomon told him not to. There was something in this place that drew magoi to feed it to the magic tools. There was no need to waste magoi.

He didn't like the state of this city either. Everything looked worn down, including the people. The rukh felt sick and weak around him. A few even ignored the admonition the stone he had embedded signalized and clung to him.

He looked up when he heard someone fall over and saw a little girl lying on the ground.

He instantly ran over to her and held her up "Hey, little girl! Are you okay?" Of course she wasn't, he knew that. Why did he even ask?

"Her magoi is nearly depleted." Sphintus warned "She could die!"

And at this rate, she would. The magoi drain only worsened her condition. People were forced into this and lived miserable, then died. It was the same, the exact same!

Only the circumstances differed!

"H-help me..." Her weak voice rasped out.

"I can't increase her magoi levels with a healing spell!" Sphintus worried.

What could they do? Even he can't increase magoi inside a body. The quantity maybe but not the actual levels if they were exhausted.

"Does anyone know who this little girl is?" He called into the crowd but nobody was even trying to help "Somebody!"

If they knew who she was they could find her house and try helping her there.

"I'll do it!" Titus proclaimed, surprising Solomon.

They went to one of the empty houses and laid her onto the bed where Titus began to work.

He explained "I'll protect her body with a web of light. It should stop the magoi from leaking out."

The girl opened her eyes a bit, Solomon guessed it was because she wasn't being drained any longer. She thanked Titus while the citizens were in disbelief. An old man came forward and explained the reason why the magoi was leaking.

The King clenched his fists. A magoi production facility? Those people were humans like them! How could they do that?

Just to power the magic tools… He knew that, he did. But he didn't want to face that reality. Not really.

The man also explained Marga's condition. Solomon supposed he could help her. The magoi drain aside, a medical condition could be healed. This might fall under the category that the academy can't cure but he could. The heart was an organ, if there was something wrong, he'd only need to know what.

He could replace bodies, a heart was no problem. He would have to come back later for that though.

Sphintus was lightly angered at his words and asked Titus to say something but he only asked Marga if she liked books.

She told them a lot and also informed them about how she wanted to see what the outside was like. Solomon smiled sadly, it was understandable.

Still smiling, he stood up "Leave this to me!"

Using gravity magic, he built a town resembling Magnostadt with sand around them. Marga was amazed and clapped happy. He also created a little cat and animated it to go over to her.

She seemed really excited. When he told her they would come over everyday and help her learn to read to become a scholar, she refused, saying that it was already enough if they came over from time to time and told her about the world.

Because she didn't know if she'd live long enough to become one. It was truly sad.

He had to change this, this entire city had to change. Marga was just a child, she was innocent. Yet here she was, trapped and dying. He didn't know if this was his old self speaking, the one who only recently discovered the truth and wanted to fix it.

They left Titus with the girl to talk with the old man outside, only for Titus to come to them, claiming to bring the child outside. A man who argued with them before stood in Titus' way and pointed to a huge hole in the ground that had a water stream falling down.

As Titus suggested bringing them _all_ outside, he could understand him. But first, he'd need a _whole lot_ of magoi, there were 200,000 people here! Second, this was insane. The school would be furious and if they wanted to help, this would be the wrong way to do so.

He could understand him, really. He would have done the same 1000 years earlier but this wasn't Alma Torran. Things were way more complicated these days.

He could feel the rukh of magicians coming through the gate they used earlier so he grabbed Sphintus and Titus who let go of Marga and dragged them to hide. Guards were coming to see if anyone died or had magoi depletion. It seemed to go well and the guards started to move on without discovering them when Marga collapsed.

As the old man from before pleaded for her life, the Head Guard Doron grabbed her by the arm and threw her. He couldn't help it, he ran out of hiding and past the guards, Titus only a few feet before him.

They jumped after her, Titus managed to catch her just in time before she hit the ground. Solomon stopped all three of them from colliding with the ground thanks to his gravity magic. Titus held her close as they flew upwards.

They landed on the side of the hole opposite of the guards. However, it seemed Titus wasn't done yet as he tried destroying the ceiling to carve a path but it only resulted in the guard attacking them with life magic.

Solomon guessed that this was his strong point. Unluckily for Doron, both he and Titus knew fire magic.

Titus used Halharl but Solomon had to drag him out of the way before he was torn into by the giant plant. To make them pay for their actions, Doron made the plants pick up the people from around them and threw them to their deaths.

Solomon pushed Titus to Sphintus and flew down, using Asfal Riih to keep the people afloat and return them to stable ground.

Doron chuckled as he addressed him and Titus "I know who you two are! You're the second year scholarship students rumoured to be quite the hotshots this year, right? So what the hell do you think you're gonna do against opponents like us?"

"Needless to say, we're going to defeat you all and open up a path that leads outside…" Titus countered "I know I'm capable of that. As long as I release my power till the end..."

But that would kill him. No, that wasn't an option.

"Aladdin." He spoke to him "You came here to sweep away the darkness of this country, too, didn't you? Don't you think the time is right now?" No, not at all "If we don't fight now, then when are we ever going to?"

"You idiot, just calm down a second!" Sphintus said to him in a strained voice "I know you didn't come to the academy to get caught in a place like this! Try to remember why it was that you came here!"

The reason… Magicians and those who can't use magic hate each other. If the same thing happens today, the world will end... The black rukh, a medium...

He looked at his feet and grasped the bandage on his left arm when a bolt of lightning struck Doron's plants and Miss Meier's retracted her whip.

* * *

It was decided that the three of them were to appear before the Chancellor. It was a bit pressuring under the gaze of all these magicians and the head of the academy but not the worst situation he was in.

In the end, Solomon was asked by the Chancellor to talk with him. He didn't understand why Titus and Sphintus weren't invited but this wasn't the time for questions, no matter how much he wanted answers.

So it came that the two sat at a table, facing each other. Both had a cup of tea in front of them and Solomon blew on his to cool it down.

"By the way, Aladdin." Mogamett started the conversation "Is Yamraiha well?"

Normally he would have been surprised but he was aware that the two knew each other. The Chancellor started to tell him about her a bit before he asked how she was. He supposed it was normal to ask that about someone you held dear.

"Aladdin..." He spoke shortly after his answer "I believe you came to this country because you had some sort of mission. But it doesn't matter what that mission is. These diverse magicians who have come here… I hope for mutual understanding… I hope to co-exist with them all..." He all that with a peaceful smile on his face and confidence "This what I wish."

He did believe this man was kind-hearted but only when it came down to magicians.

"Aladdin... If you want to learn more about this country… Then come to the Great Lecture Hall tomorrow. I'm sure you'll find your time well-spent."

* * *

What the Chancellor was doing was continuing a devils circle.

But the oppressed became the oppressors, whether he wants to see that or not. He might say that the people in the fifth level have everything they could want but then why would the rukh down there be glowing as dim as they were?

There was so much Solomon wanted to say but he couldn't. Even if he told this man all about Alma Torran, he doubted it would have any effect.

What an ugly situation.

He was starting to get the students support, too. There was truth in his words even Solomon couldn't possibly deny but it was still wrong. He knew from experience. He couldn't let Il Illah come here! This wasn't the 'Father's' world!

He created it! And Ugo transported everyone here!

It wasn't Il Illah's!

He stood with Titus while other students were going to the fifth distric as Matal Mogamett came to talk with the blonde. Somewhere the conversation shifted to the Magi and Scheherazade.

If it wasn't clear before that he cared about all magicians, it was now. But the evidence of his other side became clear underground as well.

He can't see people who aren't magicians as fellow human beings. But Solomon knew one thing, that if you thought that way, the world would come to an end as a result of the aftermath.

People like that shouldn't have any power to begin with.

At least Marga would be happy for now.

* * *

"There are still things that I want to know." Solomon admitted as he and Titus walked to their respective Zemi's that they chose before "I can't just stand by and do nothing about the Fifth Level Authorization District and I haven't finished what I wanted to do in this country. It's the same for you, too- right, Titus?"

"Uh, yeah…" The other replied slightly startled "I guess so."

"..." He looked at his friend for a while before he stopped in front of the gate "I can help Marga, you know." This caused the blonde to look at him in shock "If I know what exactly her condition is and where the problem lies, I can cure it. It's possible."

"You can!?" He asked shocked.

"I can but I would have to ask you to gather that information and not tell the Chancellor. I don't want just anyone to know what I can do but Marga is under your care, so I suppose I have to tell you."

"If you really can help her, I'll do it." He promised "I won't tell anyone either!"

"Then tell me once you're done, alright?"

"Definitely!"

He smiled as Titus rushed to his Zemi, more aware of his surroundings than before. Well, he had his own lesson to pay attention to. 'The Rukh's Properties and Conversations' by Professor Irene.

As suspected, this country would bring its own downfall.

The black rukh were dangerous for a reason. On top of that, controlling black Djinn was difficult, even more so without some sort of vessel and even then it was a nightmare.

To be so careless, it was a recipe for disaster. Somehow he hoped Morgiana could be here and smash their heads together.

Sighing, he exited the building to see Titus waiting, a scroll in his hand. How he had time for that when the lessons just ended was beyond him. Together they walked to his house where Marga was taking a nap and woke her up.

"You sure this will work?" Titus asked uncertain as Solomon finished reading the report on her condition.

"Very sure." This was nothing. He looked at Marga "Could you come over here?"

The little girl obeyed and he gently took her hands. A faint glow illuminated the area above her heart as the Alchemic spell took effect.

It might be a little more complicated to reconstruct something than to replace it with exactly the same thing but it wasn't the most difficult spell he'd used so far.

"She's going to be okay." Solomon assured as he stopped "So don't worry anymore."

* * *

The announcement of war was a great shock to everyone. Chancellor Mogamett asked for his help. If it means stopping the creation of a dark spot, he'll do it. As inconspicuous as he could, he sent the rukh to Leam with a message.

It wouldn't do anything if his guess was right but maybe it could make their Magi think. The true enemy wasn't Leam, it was the 'Power' sleeping in this country. He would stop it before it could bring any harm to these people, no matter if they were from Magnostadt or Leam.

...

He was alone, wasn't he?

True, Sphintus, Titus, the teachers and the other students are with him but in the end... he was still alone.

Nobody that he could share this empty feeling with or seek comfort in. He was scared. If a medium was created and Il Illah descended, everyone would die. What could he even do alone?

Without his friends- his household- he wouldn't be able to win.

How would he even be able to fight that? Even now, the images burned in his eyes. A world devoid of life, sound and light. A place where nothing exists.

Fading laughter echoed in his ears as it was slowly replaced. Voices turned to horrified screams, laughter to fear and pleading, whispers to crying as loud as waterfalls.

Smiles faded into the grimaces of the dead, grey and cold, their rukh gone forever. Their bodies stiff and unmoving, illuminated only by the darkness.

Surely, if hell existed, that was what it was.

His eyes stung with hot burning tears and his throat closed tight as he wasn't able to take a single breath. His vision was blurry and he couldn't see anything any longer. His limps started to grow cold and icy. The skin on his body turned pale and could be seen glistering in a thin cover of sweat.

His world was going to end once again.

* * *

 **Guest: Thanks^^**

 **He seems so doesn't he? As for the Civil war, who knows~** **For your questions:**

 **Solomon doesn't know that Sinbad is possessed by David, first of all because that only happens once the medium comes and second because of David's black rukh. He does know Sinbad is half-fallen though.**

 **As for the other question, she is being controlled by Zepar. Events that weren't seen by the character in narrative still happen unless it would be completely impossible to do so for them. This also includes Kougyoku being controlled.**

 **If there are any further questions or things you wish to say, you and everyone else can feel free to tell me! ^^**


	6. Chapter 6

**Answers to future questions will be at the end of the chapters.**

 **The answers to the questions from chapter 4 are now at the end of Chapter 5.**

 **King of all Kings:**

Solomon flew over the way that led to the shore, grasping his flute. He thought back on his conversation with Sphinuts after their teacher collapsed. If he saved Titus and Magnostadt fast enough, he could search for the 'Power' afterwards.

He just prayed he wouldn't be making a mistake, like the time he left Setta all alone to protect their base.

From afar he could make out a purple and black structure that collected magoi. As the red crystal at the front charged and fired he could only watch as a huge explosion tore the enemy ranks apart.

This was no defensive battle anymore. It was just a massacre!

It took just a few seconds for it to fire once again but this time it was blocked, much to Solomon's relief. Even if that wasn't exactly good news for Magnostadt.

The Fanalis rushed through their ranks and advanced further and further into their territory. A couple of Red Lions wouldn't be anything against him. He regarded his pulsating arm, taking that stone out had hurt!

For now he had to destroy these pipes connecting to the fifth level, otherwise all the people down there would die. He fired his shots just as Miss Irene gave the signal to charge the machine.

On the other hand, somewhere on that battlefield before him was Titus. After a while, he saw him fighting a Fanalis. His eyes widened, he had a Metal Vessel. So this wouldn't be too easy, then.

Muu, huh? One of Leam's three Metal Vessel Users. He could make out a part of their exchange just before Titus collapsed on the ground.

"Admit it." Muu spoke after he sheathed his sword "Those people that you hold dear feel the same way deep down inside…"

Solomon shook his head and sent the rukh out to swarm around him, causing the other magician to look up.

Solomon stopped right in front of him and presented his hand "That's not true! You're Titus, our friend. Didn't I tell you? Even if you couldn't be more different than anyone else in the world and you're all alone, there are people who'll say it doesn't matter to them at all! It doesn't matter to me, either!"

Titus started to tear up and took his hand "Aladdin..."

"He betrayed Leam." Myron told him "Is he worthy of your compassion?"

Solomon decided to ignore her comment for now "Let's try to figure out how we should settle this, Titus."

"So, Aladdin." Muu stepped forward "What were you planning to accomplish by coming here?"

Solomon frowned as he presented his staff "With the help of you all... I want to stop this tragic war, that's what!"

"Aladdin, Titus!" Miss Meiers' shouted as she, Sphintus and several others landed, giving tham back-up "Let's defeat them by joining forces. If we can just force the Fanalis troops to retreat, there's a sure chance that we can stop the advance of the Leam army, as well."

He supposed that was also an option.

"No way we're going to retreat." Muu claimed "After all, we can't let the Kou empire snatch Magnostadt away from us. Not to mention, it would make such a great foothold for us when the Leam empire invades the eastern continent. We're going to keep pushing through to the capital and take Magnostadt."

The tension grew and Solomon decided to interfere "Why would Lady Scheherazade do such an arrogant thing?"

"What did you say?" The half-Fanalis replied.

"I'm not saying Magnostadt is in the right…" It certainly wasn't "But... as long as it keeps getting treated like this by Leam and the people of Kou, the director and the others won't have any other choice but to carry on with their current mindset. That's why I'm asking you to stop driving them to the brink. Would you tell Lady Scheherazade that I said that?"

"Don't you go giving orders to Lady Scheherazade!" Muu demanded "Advance! We're gonna tear down all of the barriers and seize control of the capital!"

"Stop them!" Meiers commanded "We can't let them reach the second protective barrier! Distance yourselves!"

The Fanalis' started rushing towards them and fought against the magicians, breaking their borgs and kicking them to the ground. Solomon looked around, holding them up shouldn't be a problem. He flew farther up.

"What's wrong?" Miss Meiers wondered.

"How about this?" Solomon inquired, pointing to the rivers. As they got his plan, they started to fire as many shots as possible to weaken the ground and break it, making it easy to connect it to the water stream.

The other students were shocked to find the Fanalis' swimming through. But for them that was fine, them being in the water was all they needed. Struck with lightning, they drifted away save for a few who still managed to get out and onto save ground.

So that wasn't enough. Maybe it was time to throw them all out at once.

He called all the rukh in the area to himself as his aide.

"The rukh!" Sphinuts stated shocked, seeing them all fly towards his friend.

"Aladdin, are you okay?" Sai Lin wondered from beside him.

"Yes." He answered with a smile.

Muu, Myron and Lo'lo' charged at them together, not knowing what they would soon be up against. Strength Metal Vessel and household, huh? Not bad.

But to think this was Barbatos Metal Vessel User...

Even Miss Meiers fell to them and they reached the second barrier. With futile attempts the magicians tried to stop their attacks but it was to no avail, the barrier was cracking, it would only take one more attack for it to completely break.

An arm made out of sand threw the threw Fanalis' aside and three exact copies of Ugo with the addition of a head came to be on each of his sides and behind him.

Solomon crossed his arms and smiled "What are you going to do now?"

By now, there was so much rukh gathering that it could be seen by anyone. It was as amazing as it was terrifying, he was sure of that.

"I don't believe that you're fit to be a king, Sir Mogamett." He admitted "But I also know that the magicians of this country are people who are living their lives with all their might. If you put your heads together, you should be able to find a better way… This country… Magnostadt can't become one with the world as long as everyone's hearts are consumed by hatred." His flute felt warm in his hand "If that ever happens, it will surely spin out of control." Just like Alma Torran "I'm going to stop that from happening!"

He could see Muu come closer, his sword drawn. It seems they now perceived him as a danger.

"You're not Yunan." The younger commented.

"You know Yunan, sir?" He asked surprised.

"Yeah, I've met him before." Muu admitted "If there are only three Magi's in this world, does that make you Kou empire's Magi?"

"I'm not Judar." Solomon told him calmly "I'm not a Magi, either. You're not the first to think so, though."

Muu attacked him only to be thrown back by the middle sand giant "Either way, I'm going to eleminate any obstacles that stand in Leam's way!"

He charged again, this time with the help of the other two but it hardly did anything to his giants. Of course not, as long as he had magoi, that was going to be impossible.

He flew up, activating Halharl Infigar in the hands of the giants and firing them.

"Is that the best you can do? That a Magi can do?" Muu asked loud enough for him to hear "If you can use that overwhelming magical power to massacre the entire Leam forces, then you're no different than that Mogamett, Aladdin!"

He knew that very well.

"Without returning a single person's life to the Great Flow," _'To me'_ "I'm going to end this war!"

"You said you're going to end this war?" Muu yelled "And without killing a single person, no less? Spare me your naivete! There's no way you can do such a thing!"

He'd accomplished harder tasks "Oh, yes, I can. I have no choice but to do it! Miss Irene!" He called out "Can I speak with the director?"

"You cannot have a conversation with him." She informed "But it is possible to address him. As Lord Mogamett should be keeping an eye on this battle through Clairvoyance Magic..."

Solomon nodded and flew even higher "Sir Mogamett. You and I are going to protect this town one more time." He raised his staff, finished with what he had to say and led the giants forward "Halharl Infigar!"

Only a bit.

A bit further.

It wasn't going to be much longer.

Just a moment.

One moment.

Now!

The giants collapsed, burying the enemy soldiers and dragging them to the shore as the barrier was restored.

"What happened is that this war is more or less back to square one." He explained to the enemy "If you want to conquer Magnostadt, you can just start all over again. But no matter how many times you guys attack us, I'm going to push you all back to the ocean every time- no matter how many times it takes!"

He was glad his strategy was working well, the soldiers were giving up.

"Even if I'm not the one to do it, the people of Magnostadt will continue to stand up to the Leam forces, every time. Because it's life or death for them. Because everyone holds their own country dear…" This was hurting, it was hurting too much "So please… Don't take it away from them… the place that these people belong. People of Leam… Please go back to your own country!"

It seems that was the last bit it took, the soldiers were ready to leave. Solomon eyes pierced Muu's form as he stalked forward.

"Spirit of Hunting and Nobility..." He said seemingly calm but with a grave expression "I command thee. Envelope yourself all around me and take shelter within me. Transform my body into that of a great magus… Barbatos!"

The sword glowed brightly as the red heads form changed. It was a full body Djinn equip. The one thing they didn't need right now, it restored their courage again as they regained the will to attack.

But this wasn't good, the Fanalis didn't have a lot of magoi to begin with. He broke through the first barrier with no trouble whatsoever.

"Aladdin, you alone…" Muu declared fiercely "...I will kill right here! Bard Rohm!"

With amazing speed, he rammed into the King who had just enough time to put up his borg as the blast send them both flying.

Did Muu really think he would be done in by this? A Djinn's strength was overwhelming, yes but he knew them and their abilities. Something that Muu did not. He may be Barbatos' User but he wasn't Barbatos himself.

"I'm sorry but I can't allow myself to lose!" Solomon proclaimed as he swung his staff "Ramz!"

The lightning didn't effect him as much as wanted and he had to jump back as Muu began to bleed slightly as an after-effect of using his equip too long. He was out of time and magoi but he knew it wasn't over.

This man would use his Extreme Magic. Magnostadt wouldn't last against something like that, even with the barrier intact. It was just impossible!

"Extreme Magic, Bard Longineus!"

Barbatos' sword. This was still a Metal Vessel, there was a way to stop it! He just had to slash the pentagram with his staff.

He thrust it forward, only barely managing to ram it into the ground before he would harm his friend. He watched in shock as Alibaba stopped Muu's attack. He hadn't paid attention to the rukh or he would have known he would come.

"Who would have thought… that you'd be the one to stop me..." They knew each other? Muu put his sword away "From the looks of it, you probably didn't come here to back me up, did you?"

Alibaba just smiled and turned to Solomon.

"Aladdin!" Alibaba exclaimed happy.

The Fanalis' joined their leader as Myron complained to Alibaba. It seemed they were slightly panicking as both their captain and one of the Household members were out of magoi they could use.

"Everyone, fall back." They were commanded from behind and Solomon looked up to see Leam's Magi.

She must have come with a teleportation circle.

"Miss Scheherazade?" This wasn't… This was just a clone as well… "You're not really Miss Scheherazade, are you?"

"W-what are you talking about, Aladdin?" Titus asked confused.

"And who are you?" The Lady countered "Aladdin, Magi of Magnostadt?"

Why? _Why?_ "No, I'm not. I'm not a Magi, either. But I don't want you to drive this country into a corner. The triggers that lurk here… The hatred borne by the magicians, the magoi production facility, the link to a certain organization. And if the last trigger is already hidden somewhere… Then 'something terrifying' will be summoned into this world. Just don't let that… please…"

His voice was pleading at this point and he was sure nobody here would ever understand just how frightening that 'something' could be or how scared he was. Not one. He looked straight at the Magi.

Scheherazade turned to the Fanalis captain "Withdraw the forces for now, Muu."

"But why?" He wondered surprised.

"Because Aladdin... might be gazing upon the same sight as Yunan." She explained.

Solomon and Muu were surprised. That was right, this wasn't the first time the Magi was alive. After knowing Ugo, he must know more than anyone else, it would only be natural.

"Either way…" She continued "The soldiers are severely wounded. For now, have the entire army retreat to the fleet on the open sea." She turned to Aladdin and his two blonde friends "Aladdin, Alibaba and Titus... Would you mind if we spoke for a bit?"

The sun was beginning to set as they arrived in the neutral zone between Leam's fleet and Magnostadt's country. Scheherazade and Titus were sitting beside each other opposite to Aladdin and Alibaba.

"I thought we were gonna get hauled off to the Leam fleet like hostages." Alibaba admitted.

"This is neutral territory." Scheherazade calmly replied.

"In that case, we can have a calm discussion, right?" Solomon smiled politely.

They ended up talking a bit about the battle to start things. It seemed the easiest topic to talk about at the moment.

"But it really surprised me when you came, Alibaba." Solomon told him "I nearly stabbed you! Showing up out of the blue like that!"

"Actually, you surprised me!" He threw back agitated "I mean, there you were, in battle. Then Muu turns into a silvery flash! It was totally scary, seeing it streak all the way across the battlefield, you know!"

"Come to think of it." The King smiled cheerfully "You didn't change at all."

"But I have changed!" He claimed loudly, flailing around "Look! Like maybe I have more presence or I'm a lot cooler or I seem more mature…!"

"H-hey, Aladdin." Titus muttered worried and shocked, looking back and forth between them and Lady Scheherazade "What's that all about? Now that we have Lady Scheherazade's ear…"

He stopped for a moment and looked at her again to find her smiling brightly. Their antics even made her laugh. They kept at it for a while until Alibaba recounted his journey and how he met Muu at the coliseum.

"So you didn't meet Lady Scheherazade, Alibaba?" Solomon questioned.

"Nope!" He denied "I made sure I wouldn't run into her! Because she'd find out, you know? That I had a Metal Vessel…" He looked to her at this "A Magi would know…"

"No…" She shot it down "Even if we had met, I wouldn't have known…"

"What do you mean?" The former prince inquired "Uhm, if you don't mind telling me?"

"It's because you're different from a Magi, isn't it?" Solomon added.

Titus shot up "W-what are you talking about, Aladdin? That's rude!"

"You're right." She admitted "I am the same as Titus... Only a mere clone of Scheherazade..."

He was right earlier then.

"W-what are you saying?" Titus asked confused.

"That said, it is only true of this body." She added "My mind is that of the Magi, Scheherazade, herself. My first body lies hidden in a place where no one in Leam can ever lay eyes on it... Because it can no longer take another step… being altogether too old…"

"Old?" Alibaba looked shocked "Just how old are you really, then?"

"I'm 268." She answered lightly.

Alibaba fell back in shock "T-two hundred and sixty-eight?!"

He looked at his friend confused as Scheherazade laughed. He supposed it _might_ be considered old. Back in Alma Torran, it probably wouldn't have been that bad.

"Surprised?" She asked amused "I may not look it but I'm quite the grandma now!"

What did that make him then?

"Now it's my turn to ask questions…" She said "Please tell me. What is it that Matal Mogamett is hiding? What is he trying to accomplish in Magnostadt? Tell me, Aladdin. What is your fear?"

Now everyone was looking at him, expecting an answer. It was slightly scary but a lot of things were recently.

"What I fear is…" He clenched his fists and looked at his lap "That the Chancellor... might make Al-Thamen's wish come true."

Alibaba stood up "Did you say Al-Thamen?"

Solomon turned to him "At this time, Magnostadt has no connection to Al-Thamen. But there are great quantities of magoi and the magicians' hatred and if he is hiding a lot of black rukh somewhere as well… Then the tragic scene Al-Thamen has been longing for might be recreated."

"The tragic scene?" Alibaba questioned as Titus looked shocked while Scheherazade's face was unreadable.

She looked up with a firm face "This thing you call the 'tragic scene'... how do you know about it? And where did it happen?"

"Alma Torran." He answered briefly "I'm talking about another world!"

"Another world?" The former prince asked.

"I told you a bit about it before, Alibaba. But this will be new for you, too. All sorts of people once lived in that world but a single war brought everything to an end. And the people who triggered that war... were Al-Thamen. The war ended before everything in Alma Torran perished. If you were to ask a Djinn, they would say it was thanks to the power of a great magician named King Solomon."

"But that's-" Alibaba shut his mouth, seeing Solomon's glare.

Solomon closed his eyes and continued "And the few remaining survivors were guided towards a new world created by said King. And that world… In other words, the world we're all living in right now!" He looked her straight into the eyes "But there are people who could never accept that. Al-Thamen's wish is to eliminate even this new world and recreate it as a world of chaos. And the power they need to accomplish that is… The Dark Spot. A hole in the world created from vast quantities of magoi and black rukh. From there, they'll consume all the white rukh in this world to depletion. An incarnation of evil will appear… I have seen it all, the history of Alma Torran."

He looked down sadly, remembering that final battle. The last true fight Alma Torran would ever experience.

"Is this the first time you've told this story?" Scheherazade inquired.

He shook his head "No. I already told Alibaba and another friend a part of the story with some… adjustments. I'm sorry about that Alibaba, I really am but I had reasons to keep silent. At that point in time, it was dangerous because remember? 'Walls have ears'. It was the same when we were on the ship to our respective journeys. But there was one person who I told more but it was in order to make sure he wouldn't go do something stupid ...And to help him a bit. I couldn't just tell anyone, you know. I'd just worry everyone, after all!"

"So that's what it is…" The female Magi commented "And? If what you said is true… You're telling me to stop this war in order to prevent that worst-case scenario from happening. Is that right?"

He nodded "Yes."

"Let us return to one of the ships of Leam's fleet." She suggested and they made their way to the nearest ship, all four getting off the boat "Please give me just a little time to talk it over with everyone on the boat. Wait for my answer by Lord Mogamett's side."

"Will you give me a little more time, too?" Solomon asked and motioned to Titus "I haven't talked to Titus yet about what we're going to do after this."

Titus didn't look too well but Scheherazade took him by the arm "First, let me have a moment alone with Titus, please."

She walked away, leaving him and Alibaba alone.

"Hey, who is that guy?" Alibaba wondered, gesturing to Titus.

"He's a friend that I made in Magnostadt. I just can't feel indifferent to what happens to him…"

"..." Alibaba looked at the two others talking "You know, I'm actually really upset that you didn't tell me and Morgiana the whole truth."

"I know." Solomon replied "I'm sorry."

Alibaba punched him in the shoulder "Stop saying sorry. I get it, I just wished you'd done that. I'm upset, yes, but not angry. So don't worry about it. Anyway…" He remained silent for a while "You came from another world then, right? That must have all happened long ago, how come you're here right now?"

"I died." He admitted, chuckling at his friend's horrified expression "I don't know how I came back though. But I'm happy I got to meet all of you."

They both smiled before they broke into laughter.

"Me, too!" Alibaba confirmed "I'm also glad I met you, Morgiana, Hakuryuu and so many others."

Just as he finished, Scheherazade called out to them, declaring the end of the war. Solomon was relieved, it seemed like it wouldn't come to the creation of a Dark Spot.

A soldier destroyed the calm of the moment, declaring that the Kou empire was on the move. Solomon nearly facepalmed, he forgot about that! Hakuryuu told him they would attack and it was a threat Kouha made to the Chancellor a while ago.

Now they had Leam out of the picture but how was he going to convince Kou? Well, he could hold them off, maybe even convince them with the help of the Djinn's. Kouha's rukh was there, so his Metal Vessel should be with him.

With a sudden realization he checked on Chancellor Mogamett's rukh and tensed. It was filled with bad intentions! Maybe good in Mogamett's eyes but all in all they spelt disaster.

He grabbed Alibaba's arm "We have to go to Magnostadt, like right now! Sir Mogamett's rukh is on a downwards spiral!"

"What?!" He asked shocked "But we just got this situation resolved!"

"It's Kou." Solomon explained "We had losses and just fought, there's no way to fully fight Kou right now without a huge amount of losses. And they have several Metal Vessels, even if I can only feel one right now. We have to go back and stop him!" He directed his gaze to Scheherazade "If you don't want to get caught up in this, I suggest you and your forces leave now!"

He turned to the ocean but already saw the pillar of dark smoke, of black rukh, rising. He and Alibaba were hurrying to the academy on his flying sheet as fast as possible. Contrary to their expectations, the black Djinn didn't fly towards them but towards the Kou army instead.

But that was temporary, in the end Leam would be attacked as well. And then, everyone.

The two flew after the Djinn in hopes of catching up to them. Kou might not exactly be their ally but they couldn't let them die like this. And Kouha was Solomon's friend, kind of.

He could both hear and see the explosions at the Kou armies location. He smiled relieved as Alibaba changed into his Djinn equip and left. He himself put the cloth away and flew with his strength magic, it was both faster and easier for him.

He really needed to think about what spells to use. How much magoi it cost didn't matter, he had Ugo as well, all he needed were spells big and strong enough to shred these things apart without them regenerating.

As he was thinking, the three Djinn from before that went after Kouha went back to the academy as nothing more than rukh. That would explain the Extreme Magic he felt. But the ones that returned were worse than the ones before.

He tch'd. They had taken on the same forms as the ones that destroyed Alma Torran. He flew faster, there was no way Kouha could do this alone. He couldn't use his Extreme Magic endlessly and those were just too many opponents.

It seems Alibaba made it in time though, to think he'd mastered his Djinn equip. Only two were left standing by the time Solomon arrived. On top of that, there were reinforcement coming, for both the black Djinn's and Kouha. He supposed it was his brother but three Vessels, seriously? Was this guy a mini version of Sinbad?

But it was too early to celebrate as another group of these ghastly black things arrived. Alibaba was activating his Extreme Magic but for Solomon that wasn't fast enough.

"Help us, Ugo!" He blew into his flute, the Djinn materializing.

He started to ran up to the enemy Djinn's and Alibaba was about to fire when a blue blast erupted behind them and was shot into the Djinn's. Many were wiped out instantly.

He looked backwards, his suspicion was true, it was Kouha's half-brother. Ren Kouen, what Djinn's does he hold? Who chose this man?

He and Alibaba watched as Kouen's household took the center stage. Astaroth, Phenex, Agares. So they were the ones who chose Kou's first prince as their King. My, so many of his friends were here.

He watched their King as he commanded Kouha's forces. As said man looked at them, they descended onto the ground and Solomon gripped Alibaba's shoulder and kept him in place, letting the rukh tell him not to do anything stupid.

"Who are you?" The first prince inquired.

Solomon tightened his grip as Alibaba answered "A former prince of the Kingdom of Balbadd, Alibaba Saluja."

Whispers broke out among Kou's soldiers.

"Aladdin?" Kouha asked confused, seeing his friend beside the former prince.

His companions were just as confused "What going on?"

The soldiers started to take fighting stances and encircled them. Solomon tightened his grip one more time before he let go and stepped forward.

"I understand your caution around him as he is your enemy but please do lower your weapons." He spoke evenly and Kouen let him continue "I also realize Kou's power, therefore I have no intention to fight you but Alibaba is my friend and as such under my protection. I will not hesitate to attack you with all my might if you happen to harm him."

It was a rather long pause and the soldiers looked positively ready to murder him. Such loyalty. Oh, well, they were just a few soldiers, wind magic could blast them away again and again with no problem.

The problems were Mister three Djinn's and his household.

"You don't want me to look down on him…" The prince concluded "But you won't even let him speak for himself."

"I can hardly let a friend of mine do all the work here." Solomon claimed, his hand and arm against the front of his chest "Besides, shouldn't that be the last of your worries? The black Djinn are still coming back and I can tell you, it's not gonna stop anytime soon, not if the black rukh keep being produced."

"It seems so. I assume you know the source?"

"I do but right now there's no way to stop it from this distance, so I'll have to fight through these black Djinn to get back." He tilted his head and smiled "So if you will excuse me and my friend, we will be going back." He turned to Ugo "You will help, too, right?"

He made a thumbs up and Solomon had to bite his lip as the soldiers only now noticed the Djinn's presence. They were interrupted by the arrival of the Djinn's and started to fight their way through. He glanced at Kou's forces as they defended themselves and started to counter-attack.

The Djinn's wouldn't last long but their advancement was slow as well. It would take a while to get to Chancellor Mogamett. He would be faster if he abandoned the Kou forced but he couldn't do that either.

He stopped his assault on the enemy mere moments before they disappeared, becoming stock-still. He couldn't move a muscle, he didn't even want to.

Poor, poor Titus who had only lived a little over a year, got excited over every little thing and could smile brightly for them. Who gave Marga a home and stood by her side as family.

Now he wasn't there anymore, his rukh gone yet it wouldn't even return to the flow.

He stared at the sky in disbelief as he collapsed on his knees, staff falling down beside.

 _'You stopped him, didn't you…? You sacrificed yourself and yet… and yet… why…? Why did you of all people have to die? Why you?'_

And as if that wasn't enough, he feel his rukh getting sucked up, the Chancellor's was probably experiencing the same now.

Why was this happening? Why now? How could he _dare_ come back? After all that happened, after all he _did_?

He had no right to exist! Not here! Not in this-

"-in! Aladdin! Aladdin!" Someone was shaking him? "Stop crying, Aladdin! What's wrong with you all of a sudden?!"

He was crying? He lightly touched his cheek. It was wet, he realized. Why was it wet? Was it raining?

No, no it wasn't.

The hands left his shoulders and something heavy landed on his head, blocking whatever light the sun had been sparing for him. His own hands were shaking, but why?

The feeling was familiar. Like a hand he'd held many times but when was that? Who was that?

...

No, more importantly,

who the hell was Aladdin?

* * *

 **I just realized I forgot to make that extra scene in Chapter 4...**

 **Oops?**

 **I will definitely get to it later though.**

 **Please tell me what you think so far!^^**

 **Guest: Thank you, I'm happy you like it! I can't deny that he's OOC at all, it's very true^^**

 **That's why I'm glad that you think it's a great story anyway!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Today's chapter is a little bit shorter than usual. Sorry about that^^'**

 **But I included the short Extra as compensation, I hope it's at least somewhat entertaining.**

 **King of all Kings:**

It was dark and cold where he sat. And lonely, so very incredibly lonely. Even the Great Flow couldn't illuminate his surroundings. So many had joined it in the last hours… too many.

But that was always the case when war was waged. People died and came to him, it was normal. But... wasn't someone missing?

Someone that died just a minute or two ago. Someone who hadn't fallen.

Where was that person?

Why did he feel sick? It wasn't the missing rukh, he knew that much.

 _|Who are you, deep inside that hole?|_

That voice wasn't his yet he recognized it. Where was that? The rukh… The rukh from Magnostadt's fifth Level Authorization District? Why would they be sending someone's voice to him…

The unwell feeling increased, were the two connected?

But who said that? It wasn't anyone from the flow. And yet, and yet…

The Chancellor.

The Chancellor said that. He had fallen. Then the missing rukh… was Titus'?

Wait, how did he know them? Come to think of it, wasn't he somewhere else just mere seconds ago?

That's right, he was with the Kou forces, beside Alibaba. Alibaba? Balbadd's third prince, Alibaba.

How could he forget that, forget all his friends for a moment?

Now, why did he retreat to the flow again? He must have panicked because of something, but what. He felt something and whatever that was, was also responsible for the sick feeling he had.

He felt a familiar presence he knew _very_ well. Someone he knew but _hated_.

It wasn't the hand he felt on his head, that was Ugo. He could never hate Ugo. It had to do with the Chancellor.

Deep inside a hole? Was someone sucking up their magoi? Yes, just before he retreated his mind he felt their magoi vanish, he also knew who did it.

…But who was it again. Why was that part of his memory wiped, dead?

Dead...

Dead?

David. It was David he felt. It was _that_ -

 _'Calm. Calm down.'_ He needed to go back to Alibaba and the others.

* * *

Solomon was lying motionless in Ugo's hand as a quake shook the earth. Everyone looked towards Magnostadt as a beam of light rose to the sky. Solomon woke up to a dark sky and as he sat up, he could see the beam slowly disappear.

He looked at Ugo who had gone stiff in shock. It was the natural reaction, a medium was created and now, Il Illah was descending from the sky. A hole had opened up, surely it connected to the other dimension he sealed him in now.

He stared at it in fright "This is terrible."

"What is that, Aladdin?" Alibaba asked puzzled, regarding the black being poking out of the clouds.

"That." He pointed "Is the 'something' I talked about earlier. It doesn't matter if we stop the war or the black Djinn's, if that makes it here, it's all over…"

He jumped down from Ugo's hand and took his staff from Alibaba who had been holding it. They didn't have his 72 Household members here, only 6 if Muu was added and even those could only be counted as 4, seeing as it was impossible to activate multiple Djinn equips at once.

Even more of a problem were the other people present. Household members could somehow manage to defend themselves, he was sure but the soldiers of Kou and Leam as well as the Magnostadt citizens were a nuisance. They could end up as unneeded casualties!

"Sir Kouen!" He called out to the enemy general "Please pull back your troops! If they stay here, they will all die!"

"Lord Kouen, please disregard the inane prattle of this brat." Seishuu stated.

Okay, that was enough! He wasn't a child and this wasn't the situation to have anything like this go back and forth! If that guy thought he was that beneath his master he'd have to think again! This wasn't a child, a civilian talking with a prince! It was a King talking with a prince!

He hated to use his position like this but if it was the one way to get them to listen, so be it!

"I know I can hardly command any of you, it was simply a request meant to help, as I meant every word. And if anything," He stated calmly but with a foul mood, addressing Seishuu "You should stop talking down to me. I am the King of Alma Torran and not some grovelling insect that had its wings ripped off."

Kouen's retainers glared at him as he glared back, Ugo coming to stand by his side. Kouen seemed rather interested in what he said however.

"Alma Torran?" He repeated a portion of his words "Then I assume you're 'Solomon'?"

"That is correct." He confirmed unshakable "My name is Solomon Jehoahaz Abraham, King of Alma Torran and the leader of what was once known as the 'Resistance'. If you don't believe me, we can just ask the Djinn's you wield."

Not waiting for a reply, he stretched his hand out and called for his friends. One by one, three of the leaders emerged from their vessels.

"Our King and our great past past King!" Kouen's Djinn's chorused, bowing fully or slightly, depending on the Djinn.

"Agares, Astaroth, Phenex!" Kouen said surprised "Those are my Dinn's!"

Following his own, Leraje and Amon rose as well, this time fully addressing Solomon "You summoned us, our great King Solomon?"

"I see…" Kouen spoke lowly but firm "So King Solomon is really you?"

"Our Kings..." Amon interrupted him "Please seal off the Dark Spot. Otherwise, this world will be destroyed. A 'Hole' has opened up in the western skies. From there, an incarnation of evil will descend!" He looked at Solomon "Would it be rude to ask you to explain further?"

"Not at all." Solomon shook his head as everyone's attention turned to him "The hands of said being will rob everything he touches of the white rukh inside their bodies. People, animals, even plants. Even light and sound will die out, nothing will move and nothing will be heard. In it's wake would be… A black sun, shining down on a world devoid of life…" He inhaled sharply, it was hard to force all these words out.

"Everyone's gonna die, do you hear me?" Leraje warned full of worry "Don't let this world become another Alma Torran!"

"Leraje!" Astaroth stopped her and held an arm in front of her "That is taboo. The people of this world aren't supposed to know even of the existence of the 'Other World'."

"It's fine, Astaroth." The King explained "In times like these, there's no other choice."

"You Majesty-" Agares started but Solomon raised his hand to stop him.

"We have no options left, everyone. The situation is far worse than it seems."

"Whatever do you mean, our King?" Amon question interested.

"Not only are Arba and her followers back..." He pointed into Magnostadt's direction "But the Medium wasn't created just like this. Something _pulled_ the rukh _in_. That something is none other than David, however he did it."

The Djinn's regarded him alarmed. How couldn't they? David was dead, he wasn't supposed to meddle with the living, never mind this world.

"David?" Alibaba wondered "You never mentioned someone like that."

"It wasn't important." Solomon shot back, perhaps a bit too sour as he noticed Alibaba flinch "He's dead but I fear of what he has planned. Getting rid of him is no small task and now we have to deal with a medium _and_ Il Illah descending."

"How exactly can we stop this anyway?" Alibaba asked him.

"You have to destroy the Medium." Amon answered when Solomon didn't "The incarnation of evil, Il Illah… is a high-ranking entity from another dimension who normally wouldn't exist in a place like our world. The 'Power Spot' that serves to pull it down to this world… That's the medium. A vast amount of black rukh and magoi, crystallized. That is what Al-Thamen was trying to create by causing an Abnormality of the World. Their ultimate goal…"

"We just have to destroy it." Solomon spoke up, thinking deeply "So someone needs to distract it. If we manage that, I can seal Il Illah away again."

"Can't you just seal the medium, too?" Alibaba questioned.

"Yes." He answered "But the medium's core consists of two people from this world. One is responsible for the current situation but he never intended the formation of such a being. I can't let the two of them suffer, they are victims as well."

Alibaba thought for a moment "So all we have to do is attack it while you seal the big black thing up there?"

"..." Well, that was a very simple version of it "Basically, yes. But don't take it lightly if you help out, it will mass-produce black Djinn and most likely have a very powerful borg. You can't do it alone, absolutely not." He turned to Kouen "Would you mind helping out? You won't really be able to see tomorrow otherwise."

"Why would I?" The prince replied definite.

Solomon sighed again "You won't be able to see tomorrow." He thought for a moment and came up with an idea "You want to know about the 'truth' of the world, right? If you help us, I will tell you. But you have to pull back your troops and help us for that."

Kouen smirked in a scary way "Very well." He inhaled deeply before yelling loudly "Koumei! Hakuryuu! Hakuei! Kougyoku! Come to me this instant!"

Solomon stopped shielding his ears. This guy was positively scary. And loud.

"Hakuryuu, is he coming here?" Alibaba whispered.

"Who knows…" Solomon replied.

Hakuryuu wouldn't be coming. All this happening today was a nuisance but who could have known so much would happen on this very day. But Hakuryuu had his own mission and Solomon was sure he would see through with it.

After everyone changed into their Djinn Equip and Solomon recalled Ugo, they flew towards Magnostadt.

"I will leave the fighting to you, okay?" Solomon said.

"Does the sealing spell take that long?" Alibaba questioned surprised.

"Not really." The King admitted "But I will try to make it last longer if not permanent this time. So nobody can break through or call it anymore. However, I will need time and energy for that which means that I will have to gather a lot of rukh. Think you can handle it?"

"Of course!" His friend replied confident "You can count on me!"

Solomon smiled gratefully "Thanks."

Unlike Kouen, Kouha and Alibaba, he stopped when they arrived at the outskirts of Magnostadt and started to concentrate. With all the black Djinn he felt guilty, not really helping out but if he didn't do this it could end worse than if not.

He put up a borg around himself, just in case any Djinn would try to attack him.

 _'If only things like this didn't happen.'_

But the world could be a cruel place. He clutched his staff tightly as he called every rukh to him, the ones in Magnostadt, the ones in the neighboring lands, every single one.

The area around him started to be bathed in gold as the light illuminated the darkened world a bit. But exactly because of that he couldn't loose focus. If all those rukh were to scatter now and the medium could grab hold of it... He didn't want to imagine the horrifying results.

The spell was complicated as it freely made use of every concept of 'strength'. And terrifying should he loose focus. The scale on which it could bend the laws of physics in this country, no, this world, was not to be discussed.

He looked at the medium which had changed its form by now. Of course the Djinn wielders would have problems but he was glad they were holding their own and not only that, he felt Sinbad's rukh.

He was still quite a bit away but he was nearing them quickly. There were other wielders with him as well, members of his Alliance.

He panicked as he saw the medium suddenly grasp one of Il Illah's 'arms'. He poured every present rukh into his spell and released it, the light engulfing everything from the city to the coast and beyond.

For a moment everything was bathed in a chilling white light that blinded them. Solomon fell to his knees and and held his staff close before he collapsed.

Il Illah was gone.

* * *

Mere moments after the light subsided, a flash of lightining rained down on the medium before another with a much larger spectrum followed. It was only after the first attack of the five Household's that Sinbad flew towards Alibaba and explained how they arrived so quickly.

He was glad that reinforcements arrived but was too weak to keep his Equip up and started to fall backwards. Morgiana managed to catch him and brought them both safely onto the ground.

"Where's Aladdin?" She asked worried, not seeing him.

Alibaba stood up "I don't really know. He sealed away that black thing just now but... he hasn't joined up with us yet. Maybe he needs to catch his breath?"

Meanwhile, Solomon was still unconscious. The release was too sudden and used up too much of his own magoi. Luckily, not as much as in Alma Torran's battle or he would have died. Again.

All of a sudden, his magoi replenished a bit and he slowly woke up. Tired, he blinked and sat up. How much time had passed since he was last awake?

In the ocean's direction, the battle still raged on but he noticed that everyone had too much magoi.

 _'And Lady Scheherazade is gone.'_

She must have sacrificed the rukh inside her body to save this world. He let himself fall backwards, he would only get in the way of their final attack and without a teleportation circle he wouldn't even make it in time.

He only picked himself off the ground and flew towards his friends as the medium started to act weird.

"The medium is hesitating…" The Magi, Yunan, explained for everyone "Or to be more precise, the rukh of the person who's become the core is. I wonder who it is…"

"Matal Mogamett." Solomon answered, his voice only a bit above a whisper.

"Solomon!" Alibaba and Morgiana shouted happily.

Alibaba went up to him with a slight smile "What took you so long?"

"I passed out." He admitted quietly "Even with the extra rukh, I used too much."

"It's not hard to notice." Yunan commented as he looked at Solomon "It's not much but you have dried blood on your face."

Solomon glanced at the ground next to him, not wanting to meet their eyes "That's not important now. The rukh of someone who hasn't fallen yet, Titus' rukh, is stopping the medium." He looked at Yamraiha who was standing nearby "I'm going inside to see Sir Mogamett's rukh. His hesitation is the hesitation of the world itself. You know him well, do you want to join me?"

She nodded and took his hand as they went inside his rukh. The inside was like a giant tower and the two of them were floating downwards towards Sir Mogamett's and Titus' rukh.

In his conversation wíth the Chancellor, many dark, fallen, people assembled around the windows of the tower like structure. And he had to admit, even he couldn't save them.

But he would find a way to do so.

* * *

It was finally over. If only these blockheads called rulers could stop butting each others heads in. He saw the good in multiple rulers existing but that they always had to antagonize each other!

He didn't pay much attention to Kouen's and Sinbad's conversation, so he flinched startled when Kouen grabbed his arm and pulled him towards him and his siblings.

"Well then, I'll be claiming this King!"

The grip on his arm grew stronger and Solomon winced _'That hurt!'_

"We promised, right?" Kouen asked, his face scaring the King slightly.

"Y-yeah…" He had no intention of going back on that.

He looked at the ground as Kouen released him and nursed his arm as the magician's joined them. He smiled slightly when he felt Titus return to their world. The other dead wouldn't come back but at least one returned. Looking at the far off sky he mentally nodded towards his black-haired friend.

Everything concerning Al-Thamen would come to an end soon.

* * *

It took a while to return to Sindria but it was nice to be greeted by the eight generals. Solomon turned to greet Sinbad when he paused, his smile shifting into a frown.

Sinbad may be half fallen but what the hell was up with him? Something felt off and... _very, very wrong._

He just couldn't put his finger on it. Was he getting paranoid? He hoped not, that would be annoying.

They had two months until the summit and yet half a month passed so quickly. Alibaba would be safe on his own on his way to Balbadd and Solomon had stuff to look into.

While in Magnostadt, he already found out a lot to help his research but sometimes in moments like this, he wished Ugo was with him. He was way smarter.

Now if only his study sessions wouldn't all get interrupted!

He wasn't really surprised to see Yunan, he had felt him coming a long time ago. The Magi promptly got into an argument with Sinbad and built a house with Alchemic magic to escape the High King.

A bit much, in Solomon's mind but he wasn't going to question it.

"Hey, what do you think of Sinbad?" Yunan asked as they both sat down with snacks and a chess board in front of them.

"Sinbad?" The King repeated a little sluggish "There's no doubt that he's incredible, has a lot of magoi and can attract all kinds of people to him. His rukh is bright and strong. It fits a King like him."

"'It fits a King like him'?" Yunan echoed as he moved one of his chess pieces "Then why did you seem to keep a distance from him? You haven't exactly said something negative."

"Oh, it's about that." He perked up "I really like him, I won't deny that but... He's a little too perfect. Too much of a perfect King Vessel, even. And since a while I have been feeling wary of him. Something's just rubbing me the wrong way since the incident at Magnostadt."

"What happened?"

"I don't know." He replied honestly "It feels familiar but at the same time like it's not there at all. Whatever it is is making me uneasy and feel sick. Like a terrible nightmare."

Like a disaster waiting to happen.

* * *

 **Extra:**

Shortly after the funeral, Hakuryuu went up to one of the palace magician's, making sure it's one of the few not belonging to Al-Thamen.

"Can I help you, my prince?" The magician asked while bowing.

"Yes, I have a request actually." Hakuryuu answered as he pointed at the magician's staff "Could you perform a spell for me?"

The other smiled, happy to be of service to his prince "Of course, what do you need?"

"It doesn't really matter." The black haired youth stated excited "Just make sure it uses around 1 Million commands."

…

"Uhm… Are you... still with me?"

Feeling uneasy, he slowly backed away from the unmoving form of the magician step by step before turning around and running towards the place where he last saw one of his cousins.

"Help! I broke someone!"

* * *

 **Sorry it wasn't much of a chapter. I'm really tired.**

 **The next chapter will be longer again, I promise!**

 **Guest:** **Thank you! I will do my best!**

 **madmissY01:** **If it was all the same, it would just be boring. I'm glad you like it as it is. Solomon's memories, well, let's see how that will play out~**

 **I hope to see everyone next time, have fun and don't hesitate to leave a comment on your thoughts!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I know, Author's notes are one of the worst things here...**

 **And that's why I'm sorry to do this to you but I want to know that it will take a bit for the next chapter to come out. I have it written about halfway but the holidays are over and since it's only a few weeks until the next one, the exams are scheduled earlier than usual and we have to do way more in class and at home to make it.**

 **The teachers try to give us as much free-time as possible with less homework if they can but the time just isn't enough to focus on the story. Once the exams are over, I will write the rest of the next chapter.**

 **Please bear with me!**

 **I'm sorry to do this, so I hope you can forgive me.**

 **This note will be replaced by the actual chapter as soon as I upload it.**


End file.
